The Past Is Always Present
by Aownr1669
Summary: Friendship develops slowly for these two kindred spirits, each with baggage to overcome and one with a history that may not be accepted by the rest of the group.  Rated M for language, gore and later situations.  Daryl X OC.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Read a couple reviews of some other stories where the reviewer said that most fan fiction was "love at first sight" and they were tired of "insta-smut." (my term). It got me thinking about characters and character development…and how best to survive. **

**Chapter 1 **

Skrrrrrrrit! Skrrrrrrrrit! Aliya shuffled over and over, not so much to make sure that the cards were well-mixed but because, well, it took up time. Over and over. Skrrrrrrrrit! Skrrrrrrrrit! Time was the one thing she had right now. She laid out the cards as she'd done at least a hundred times of the last couple days. One up. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Two up. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Three up. Four. Five. Six. Seven. On and on. Over and Over. Black on red on black on red. Mind-numbing repetitive motions. Perfect for wasting time.

She wondered why she didn't want to spend more time over at Dale's R.V. Everyone was crowded in like little sardines in a can. Around the table playing cards, talking, drinking luke-warm coffee with whatever half-empty bottle they could find to warm them up and keep the conversation flowing. Dale, Andrea. Stuart. Bridgette. Lori. T-Dog. Carl. Carol. Shane. Rick. But not Daryl. Never Daryl. He was the lone wolf in their little pack.

It was cold. Last night's rain had made everything bone-chilling cold and damp today. Aliya huddled in her small tent. Sweatpants, two pairs of socks, tee shirt, hoodie, blanket and sleeping bag all trying to keep her warm. She knew that if she got up and moved around, she'd be warm. If she was active, the blood would start circulating, but really, what for? Restack firewood? The frequent sightings of walkers in the woods made a fire impossible. Wash dishes? Done. They were pretty much eating out of cans these days because of the fire situation. Check the strings of cans and noisemakers that surrounded the camp as a sorry attempt at a warning mechanism. The guys pretty much had that under control.

She thought about the one person that was absent from camp and wondered what he was doing. If he was being successful at finding anything to eat. If he was being...careful. Stop it. Not going to go there, she told herself. I am not developing a school-girl crush on the bona fide bad boy in camp. I am too old and too fucking tired for this kind of nonsense. Plus, forming relationships in this day and age was just a waste of time. There no guarantee that anybody would make it through any given day or night, much less make a pledge of "forever." There was no more forever. A tiny virus had taken that away months ago.

She heard the footsteps and the rustle of fabric before the sing-song voice outside the tent. "Allie? Allie are you in there? You awake?" Bridgette. Poor, defenseless, terminally-clueless Bridgette. God, she just wanted Andrea to mistake Bridgette for a walker. Aliya had tried to be nice to her, repeatedly. She'd make it her mission to understand what it was like to function with half a brain, to be empathetic towards the challenged, but she just couldn't. As Bridgette would say of most things asked of her "It's too HARD."

Now, Aliya wasn't making fun of the mentally challenged, the differently-abled. The special. No, Bridgette wasn't like that. She was just...a ditz. Or, as Stuart usually said to describe her, "stoopid, with a capital stoop." Bridgette was just...dumb. It was hard not to like her, she was sweet and gullible and would do anything for you. But she made it _hard_. Case in point: after telling her for the zillionth time that your name was not Allie, it was Aliya, after a character in a book , she continued to call you Allie, well, you just wanted to club her like a baby seal.

"I'm in here, Bridgette." Aliya called, sighing under her breath. The perky blonde unzipped the tent and crawled in, goofy grin on her face.

"Hey, whatcha' doin?" she said, looking at the cards laid out in the familiar seven-column solitaire pattern. "Ya' playin' cards?"

"Yeah. What's going on in the r.v.?"

"Oh, not much. Glenn's reading and everybody else's playing Monopoly. I went bankrupt already so I thought I'd come over and see what you were doing."

"Not doin' a whole hell of a lot here, Bridg. Anybody say anything more about finding a house?"

"Yup. They have a whole neighborhood they scouted out, Rick says they just wanna' take a closer look, check out the walker situation and make sure they're ok with Daryl."

"Really? Ok with Daryl?"

"Yup, that's what they all agreed on. " Bridgette plopped down on the end of the mattress. "But he's still gone in the woods."

"Since when does he have the final say around here?" Aliya frowned.

"I dunno, but I'll do anything he says." she giggled.

"I'll bet." The red-head frowned even more. "And then some." she added.

"No, seriously, he scares me. He's always all scowling and mean and angry." Bridgette shrugged. "I'd much rather spend my time with Shane. Or even Glenn. Just not Daryl."

"What's the plan for dinner?" Alyia asked.

"Wait to see if Daryl brings anything back, if not, canned again."

"Great. Just great." she sighed and laid out another game.

"I'll be so happy when we can get a place we can not have to worry about this stuff. We can be safe from walkers…and warm. I'll be happy to be warm again." Bridgette smiled.

"I'll remind you of that come next July when it a hundred and ten and you're sweating your ass off." Aliya smirked.

XXXXX

They were all gathered around the table in the R.V. after dinner. Including Daryl. He was standing near the door, on the edge of the discussion, keeping fairly quiet, only nodding now and then. He stood with his arms crossed in front of him, crossbow resting against his leg. They were addressing the big question of what to do now. It was getting colder. Much colder. They needed more permanent shelter. They needed a way to protect themselves. They needed…a house. The last supply run the men had made, they'd checked out a handful of large houses in a gated community. Room enough for everyone and the added security of a gate, at least on a couple sides didn't hurt either. Plus, these people were loaded. They had…stuff. Lots of stuff. Most of the families had fled. Those that had stayed behind and had succumbed to the virus, however they had contracted it, would be easy to deal with one on one, if they were still in the area.

Aliya watched Daryl shift back and forth, tear at the cuticle of his thumb, and look around the r.v. from under furrowed brow. When their eyes met, she would try to look away, embarrassed that once more he saw her looking at him. It had happened on more than one occasion during the evening and she was mortified. She did not want to mess with him, literally or figuratively. Daryl Dixon was one to steer clear of, every fiber of her being told her that from the minute the two groups met.

The men did most of the talking. It was decided that there would be one last trip made into the area to decide which places they would occupy, if any. They would see how many walkers were around, what the needs would be for beefing up security, and what resources were available once they arrived.

Since the other men had already checked out the area and Daryl was out hunting that day, Rick suggested that Daryl take someone and go on a final scouting mission before they broke camp and moved. They could get in, check things out, and get back to the group to report on their findings.

Bridgette spoke up and suggested that he take one of the women with him, which brought a round of groans from all of the other women but Andrea. She sat there with a smug look on her face. Aliya looked at her and caught herself smirking. Andrea looked like she was almost ready to stand up and give her acceptance speech. She knew that Andrea thought she was all that now that Shane had taught her how to shoot. Everyone was looking at Daryl now, puzzled looks on their faces. The was shaking his head slowly. "No." he said quietly.

Rick pointed out the fact that Bridgette's idea was fairly astute. A woman will pick up on things a man might normally not think about. Kinda' sexist, but ok, Aliya thought. He added that Andrea was a good shot and had experience running recon, having been into town on numerous trips with Shane. Aliya really had to force herself not to snort out loud, but even at that, she did roll her eyes and as she looked back down, she noticed that Daryl was looking straight at her, a slight smile on his face. Was he thinking what she was thinking? Did he know about Shane and Andrea's little "trips" too? What else could it be? From the look on his face, Aliya knew she and Daryl were thinking the same thing - the only recon Shane and Andrea had done was on each other.

"I think Daryl, you should take Andrea and check things out." Rick finally had said it out loud and Aliya had to bit her lip to keep from smiling again.

"No." Daryl said flatly.

"No? Why not?" Andrea snorted indignantly.

"Don't want to." he shrugged.

"You don't _want _to?" she said. "I don't see why not." Andrea's face was flushed now.

"Uh, ya' fuckin' shot me, 'member?" Daryl said, frowning. "You don't think." he said slowly, measueing his words to emphasize the dig at her.

"Hey, I thought you were a walker. You certainly looked like a walker. How was I supposed to know?"

"That's the point, Andrea. You _didn't _know," Aliya said quietly. "and you took the shot anyway." Daryl shot her a look that was a combination of shock and amusement. Aliya couldn't believe that she'd actually said it out loud. She really hadn't intended to, it just sorta' fell out of her mouth.

Bridgette piped up and said "Well, I'm sure that Andrea didn't _mean _to, you know, she wouldn't do something like that on purpose." Aliya shot her a look that said "Shut the fuck up." in no uncertain terms.

"Now, I think before we get off the subject, maybe Daryl, _you _tell _us _who you want to take, then." Shane said.

Daryl looked around and pointed at Aliya. "Her. All-ya." He said it in two syllables, more like "All a' ya" only without the middle. She blinked a couple times and looked at him. His eyes were on hers, trying to gauge her reaction.

"Nuh-huh." she said. "No way."

"Yes." he was still looking at her.

"Daryl, why would you want to take Allie?" Bridgette said.

"She's quiet. She thinks fast. I seen her shoot. She pays attention ta' what's going on." he said, picking up his crossbow. "We leave first thing tomorrow." He turned and hopped down the stairs and left the R.V.

"What? Wait. No! Don't I get a say in this?" Aliya protested, looking around the group.

Andrea glared at her, her brow furrowed. "Apparently not." she snarled, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder and turning towards Shane, not so subtly.

XXXXX

"Why?" Aliya wrapped the blanket around her tighter. It was freezing now that the sun was starting to go down.

"Done told ya."

"No. I'm serious. Why?"

Daryl kept working on his crossbow, not looking up. "Need ta' finish here." he said impatiently.

She frowned and shook her head slowly, letting out her breath loud enough for him to hear her frustration. "Fine. " she said quietly, turning her back to him. "I just hope you don't regret your choice."

"Seven." he said, again without looking up.

"Seven." she said, walking towards her tent.

XXXXX

She slammed the door of the rusty pickup and leaned the rifle on the seat between them. She put the gym bag with the two pistols and the ammunition on the floorboard between her feet, pushed the lock on the passenger door and fastened her seatbelt. Daryl sat there watching, bemused. "Seatbelt?" he grinned.

"Well, I'm pretty sure this baby don't have airbags." she shrugged. "Can't be too careful."

"You gonna' tell me I can't smoke in my own truck next?"

"Nope." she said, taking of her sleeveless vest and rolling it up like a pillow. "Smoke all you want." She put it under her head and leaned against the window, crossing her arms over her chest.

Daryl gunned the truck over the little rise and they took off down the rutted gravel lane towards the county two-lane. Aliya closed her eyes and pretended to sleep. Sleep, however, was the last thing she could have pulled off. Her nerves were on edge, she felt like throwing up at any minute. She was scared. Nervous. She didn't want to be going on this scouting trip, let alone going alone with Daryl Dixon.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks_ so much for the alerts and reviews, Everyone! Means soooooo much!_

**Chapter 2**

The rain started about 20 minutes into their trip. Sideways sheets making visibility almost nil and any kind of speed nearly impossible. There was no lightning or thunder, just a cold, pounding rain. The pair drove in silence most of the way until Daryl spoke.

"Where'd ya' learn ta' shoot?" he asked.

Aliya opened her eyes slowly. "Family. My dad was in the army and he loved guns. Taught us to handle them and to shoot from an early age."

"Did good." Daryl nodded.

"Most girls wanted Barbies and pink princess dresses, I wanted G.I. Joe and camo pants." she shrugged. "You?"

"Been huntin' since I was a kid. Merle taught me. Had ta' put food on tha' table sometimes."

"Well, here's to us. If we'd only known how the world was gonna turn out, huh?" Aliya smiled weakly. Daryl continued to drive cautiously, dodging abandoned cars and trying to navigate to the subdivision on Rick's not-so-great directions.

"What kinda' name 's that?" he asked.

"What?"

"All'ya."

"ALL-ee-ya." she said slowly.

"Yeah, that." he nodded.

"Ever read the Dune books?"

"Don't think so."

"See the movie? Sand worms. Folding space. Spice, Freemen, a floating fat man, rain on a desert planet?"

"Maybe. Sounds kinda' familiar."

"It was based on a series of books. Frank Herbert. Aliya was the daughter of Duke Leto and his concubine, Jessica. Jessica was a kind-of a witch with special training and powers who drank the bile from the sandworms while she was pregnant and it caused her daughter to be born prematurely with all of Lady Jessica's powers. Aliya was the baby's name. My mother loved the books, so…"

"So you're a baby witch?"

"Yes, Daryl, I'm a witch, so don't fuck with me or I'll turn you into a newt." she laughed.

"Be more afraid if ya' pointed a gun at me." he grinned.

The rain slacked off a bit and the drops began to hit the windshield with a slight tinkle. Aliya looked at Daryl for confirmation. Freezing rain now. He nodded his head slowly and turned off the county road to a side road with trees on each side. "May be a long day." he said.

"Sleet. Of all days." she sighed and leaned her head back against the window.

Daryl drove past modest houses and small farms, across a concrete bridge over a small river to a fork in the road. He took a left and drove down a fairly new paved road to a large brass gate with two stone towers on either side. There was a large carved and painted sign over the top of the gate that announced "The Gables of East Laurel." The gate was slightly open. Behind the gate they could see a long drive with a lot of expensive landscaping on either side, obviously well manicured prior to the beginning of the apocalypse. The overgrown shrubbery and grass was beginning to sparkle, crystalline and shiny, with a ever-growing coat of the freezing rain.

Daryl inched the truck towards the gate and stopped, putting it in park. Aliya looked through the windshield, the wipers scraping slowly, squeaking against the glass, and then through the passenger window. She picked up the rifle and opened the door quickly, hopping out, and sprinted to the gate, pulling it open further so that Daryl could get the truck through. She heard the walker before she saw it, coming from the woods quickly towards the side of the truck, between her and the door. "Don't think so." she said, raising the weapon and aiming. The walker lurched as she fired and it dropped backwards, it's brain splattering from the bullet and the impact against the hard concrete of the road.

Daryl shut the door of the truck and sat the crossbow down on the seat next to him as Aliya climbed back in, shutting the door quickly. He had to admit that he was a little taken aback. She hadn't screamed, hadn't made any noise, really, other than what she'd said to it. She was so calm about it, quickly dispatching the creature and hopping back into the truck and slamming the door. He'd seen her shoot walkers before, but at a distance and always with a bunch of other people firing. This was just so purposeful. So, matter-of-fact. So…composed.

"Welcome to the neighborhood." she said flatly.

"You ok?" he asked, putting the truck in drive and maneuvering it slowly through the gates and up the drive.

She frowned and huffed a little. "Sure."

They moved up the road slowly, each of them taking out a couple walkers on the side of the roads as they made their way to the cul-de-sac at the end. Daryl was careful to jump out and retrieve his bolts, on guard for more walkers. "Holy shit." Aliya whispered when the houses came into view. "So this is how the other half lives?"

There were about five huge, two-story houses, spaced in the middle of equally huge yards, with multi-car garages. The houses were enormous by any standard. The yards sloped downwards towards the street area and the driveways all wound up to the front or the sides and then around back of the houses. Aliya figured that the houses would have averaged at least $2 to $3 million a piece or more.

"Which one first?" Daryl asked.

"Biggest one. In tha' middle."

They pulled up in the drive and stopped. Aliya opened the door to the truck cautiously, wary of walkers. There were none, so she got out. When her feet hit the concrete drive, the almost slipped out from under her, the sleet continuing to fall, glazing every surface now. "Shit!" she squeaked. "Watch yourself." she warned.

They moved to the front door and it was locked. Daryl lead the pair around back to the garage and slowly entered, weapons drawn. There was no indication of anything in the garage. There were, however, two vehicles-a new Jeep Cherokee and a red Corvette. A third bay was empty, no doubt the family's get-away vehicle. "Nice" Aliya whispered as she ran a hand up the quarter panel. "Not real practical today, though. Convertible's pretty easy pickins' for walkers." she giggled.

They moved cautiously to the door to the house and Daryl opened it slowly. He motioned for Aliya to say behind him as they moved inside. They entered a small room lined with shelves and cabinets. There was a bench along one wall and a rack of shoes along another. Boots. Tennis shoes. Flats. Mens', womans' and childrens'. "Mudroom" Aliya said definitively. She opened one of the large closet doors and found coats hanging.

Daryl and Aliya made their way into the kitchen and looked around, obviously in awe. Floor to ceiling cherry cabinets, granite countertops, marble floor. Every appliance imaginable, every convenience. Aliya whistled and Daryl just shook his head. The moved through the main level of the home, through the dining room, family room, living room, two bathrooms, billiard room with huge slate pool table. Both moved silently, carefully, weapons at the ready, waiting for whatever was around the corner. Fortunately, nothing was there.

They moved downstairs to the lower level, still moving cautiously, covering each other, working like a well-trained team. In the basement they found the laundry room, theatre room with rows of seats and projection television, exercise room, small office/den, a kitchenette and a large pantry. The pantry was stocked with canned and dried foods. The moved upstairs and crept up the main staircase to the bedrooms. There were six bedrooms and four bathrooms.

"Do you _believe _this place?" Aliya looked at Daryl, setting her rifle and the gym bag on the bar in the kitchen. "People really live like this?"

"Pretty incredible. 'D'you check out tha' fuckin' gym in the basement?"

"Yeah. Too bad there's no electricity, we could catch a movie in that home theatre!" she said, opening cabinet doors and drawers. "Do NOT open that refrigerator!" she said loudly as Daryl's hand moved back down to his side. "You'll regret it for days. We move in, that refrigerator's gotta' go."

"Absolutely." he agreed. He walked over to the sink and opened the tap, letting it run.

"No way. Water? Still?" Aliya shot him a look. Daryl ran his finger back and forth under the water.

"Uh, com'mere."

"What?" she asked.

"Come _here_." he frowned. Aliya moved cautiously towards Daryl. He grabbed her hand and put it under the running water.

"No way." she said, her eyes darting between her hand and his eyes. "That can't be." They stood there, both their hands in the running water, for a minute or more. "Daryl, that's hot water!"

"Yup." he grinned.

"How? How can that be?"

"Propane? Clear out here, prob'ly propane." He shut off the tap and flicked the water off his hands toward her, still grinning. "You thinking' what I'm thinking'?" he looked at her, smiling slyly.

"Whaaaat?" she said cautiously.

"Hot shower!" he snorted.

"Ok. You first. Master bathroom. Two locks. I want to check out the bedrooms closer anyway. I can watch your back and then we can trade."

"Wash my back?" he grinned.

"Watch. Watch your back." she rolled her eyes. "Jesus." she said, moving to the back door and locking it. "I'll double-check the doors, you go get started."

"Why? We ain't in no hurry. Ain't goin' no where tonight."

"What?"

"Look outside. Still freezing' rain. Ain't drivin' on that ice."

"No. We can't stay."

"Why not? No walkers. Plenty of food…'n hot water." he shrugged. "You scared?"

"No." she shook her head. "Should I be?"

"Maybe I'm tha' one what should be scared."

"Oh please." she giggled. "Go take your damn shower, Dixon."

Daryl picked up his crossbow and swaggered out of the kitchen. "Well, alright then, maybe I just will."

XXXXX

Daryl wrapped the towel around him and stepped out of the shower, warm, clean, and comfortable for the first time in a long time. He rummaged in the bathroom cabinet and found a package of new toothbrushes. Clean-shaven, shampoo-ed, and minty fresh. Damn, Dixon, he thought. He opened the door to the bedroom and was surprised to find a clean pair of boxers, ok they were plaid, but they were _clean_, a flannel shirt, pair of Levi's and a pair of socks. All laid, neatly folded, on the bed. He smiled a little, telling himself not to get use to this.

Daryl dressed, the clothes fitting him loosely, and wandered into the hallway to find Aliya rummaging through a linen closet. "Jesus." she said when she saw him. "You look almost human." she said, throwing a tube of deodorant in his direction. " I debated about going ahead and cutting off the sleeves." she giggled, turning back to the closet.

"Cute." he said. "Feels weird."

"Looks weird." she said without turning back to him. "You leave me any hot water?" Aliya had to turn back to the closet to keep from staring. He looked…good. Really good.

"No. May want ta' wait a while."

"Just as well. I need to find something to change in to anyway. Shouldn't be hard. These people have more stuff than I've ever seen. It's obscene."

"Tomorrow we'll check out tha' other houses 'fore we leave. Pro'lly stuff there we can use."

"Sounds like a plan. You think any of the other houses are laid out better for what we need?" Aliya asked.

"Doubtful, but we'll see."

"Ok. Sounds good to me. Is it still sleeting?"

"Yeah. We may not be goin' anywhere tomorrow, neither." Daryl shook his head.

"Well, we have plenty to check out, plenty of food."

"Yeah. Not a problem."

"Daryl, you think this is all too good to be true?"

"Kinda'. But we're about due for somethin' good."

"Well, now, that's true. Very true." she agreed.

XXXXX

Daryl watched the front and back sides of the house, seeing no signs of walkers or anything amiss. He had shoved furniture up against the dead-bolted doors and pulled all the blinds and shades to hide the light from the candles and oil lamps he'd found and lit.

Aliya had been soaking in the tub for an hour. She'd found bath salts and scrubs and shampoo and conditioner and towels, goodness, big, clean, fluffy bath towels. She wrapped herself in one and climbed out of the tub. She wrapped her hair in another and changed into the clothes she'd found. Aliya proceeded to sit on the edge of the tub and slather lotion on every inch of her she could reach. It felt so indescribably good to be clean, truly, finally clean. Skin. Hair. Nails. Clothes. No smell of dirt…or death. Just clean.

She toweled her hair and ran a comb through it, but all she managed to do was separate it into long curly strands. She'd always hated her hair, it had a mind of it's own and it took too damn long to dry. Plus, she was always finding long red hairs in everything. Aliya looked in the mirror. Her face was gaunt, drawn, dark circles under her eyes. She was thin, pale, nothing like her former self, she thought. Inside or out. Nothing about anything was the same as it used to be.

XXXXX

Aliya walked down the stairs cautiously, one at a time, listening for Daryl. She couldn't hear anything but the tinkling of the ice against the windows. She stopped halfway down, almost in a panic. She finally heard his boots quietly shuffling in the kitchen. She hit the bottom step as he rounded the corner with a couple bottles of beer in his hand. Daryl looked up and nearly dropped the bottles.

"Holy shit." he said, blinking. He almost didn't recognize her. He realized that he'd never seen her with her hair down, clean clothes, or dressed…nice. Here she was in a calf-length skirt, long baggy sweater, boots. He looked at her face closely. She was wearing makeup. Not a lot, just her eyes. He'd never noticed her eyes before.

"What?" she said after an uncomfortable silence.

"Didn't recognize ya'." he said, shifting in place.

"Shut it. I think the lady of the house was a lot taller than me." she said, tugging nervously at the hem of the cable-knit sweater that hit her almost at the knees. "Lori's gonna have a hell of a wardrobe." she smiled. "'s that beer?" she said, motioning to his hand.

"Yeah. They're warm."

"Shit, we could set 'em outside and ice 'em down." she grinned. "Is the cookstove gas?"

"Yeah."

"Let me get this straight. Hot bath, clean clothes, beer, _and _a hot meal?"

"Yup."

"Where's the part where I wake up back in that tiny tent and realize this is all a dream?" she said, taking one of the bottles of beer from Daryl's now-outstretched hand.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks All, for the Alerts and Reviews. Please leave a review if you're gonna alert or favorite, ok? I'd love to hear from ya! And no, this is gonna go pretty slow in the hooking up department folks, at least, slower than normal!

Please remember the disclaimer-don't own or make any claim to TWD characters, etc.

Chapter 3

Aliya found cans of beef stew and warmed it up as the biscuits she'd attempted to make baked in the oven. She dished it into bowls and found a bottle of honey for the biscuits. "Sorry about the biscuits. No butter or eggs, but we have honey and jelly, at least. That might hide the taste." she said, as Daryl sat down at the table.

"Biscuits?" he said as she put the still-steaming basket in front of him.

"Well, yeah. What else you eat with stew?" she looked at him quizzically, sitting down opposite him.

Daryl wolfed down his bowl, and then another, and ate four biscuits without saying a word. Without looking up, really. "Jesus," he said, "I ain't ate that much in a long time."

"I hear ya. I miss beef." Aliya said, wiping her mouth on a paper towel. "You think there 're a lot of walkers out there?"

"A few. Nothin' we can't take care 'a." he said, putting his bowl in the sink. He sat back down. "First thing we gotta' do 's fence this place all tha' way 'round."

"Right. Find a construction or a landscape company. Secure the perimeter. Then, fuel." she said firmly. "We need to find a couple big nurse-tanks from a propane company. There's gotta be a propane dealership around here somewhere. That 'll take care of the hot water situation and the cooking."

"Good thinking'." he agreed.

"We gotta find generators, too, and then we have to look for a gas truck."

"What?"

"You know. A truck full of gasoline. Like what you see filling up the underground tanks at gas stations. You see 'em all over on the road. There had to be some out and about when all this happened. We find one, we can run generators…no more siphoning gas out of abandoned cars."

"You been doin' some thinking' 'bout this."

"Yeah. Fence first, though. We get a safe place to live and then we can start concentrating on stuff like this. It's dumb not to." she shrugged. "We need to start growing our own food, too, and livestock."

Daryl leaned back in his chair with a slight smile on his face, his head cocked sideways, looking at Aliya. "How come ya' know all this stuff?"

Aliya scratched her temple and flipped a strand of hair aside. "What stuff? This is just common sense. Way I figure it, we're all here for a reason. We're either luckier or smarter than everyone else, right?"

"Suppose so." Daryl nodded.

"I'd like to think it's because we're smarter. Now we just gotta' keep on bein' smarter." Aliya looked at Daryl and shrugged. He'd never met a girl like her before. She wasn't prissy. She could handle a gun. She wasn't squeamish, either. She didn't talk about dumb shit and she didn't mince words, either. She seemed real level-headed, rational and yet, when she did speak, there was a glimmer in her eyes. There was a lot more going on with her than she let on.

"Well," he said, clinking his bottle of beer against hers. "Here's ta' bein' fuckin' geniuses."

XXXXX

Daryl Dixon snored. Ok, in all fairness, Daryl Dixon snored after a huge meal and four beers, but he still snored. He was sleeping on the long over-stuffed lounge chair in the master bedroom. Aliya was in the bed. They had decided that it was safer for the both of them if they were in one room. Door locked, dresser in front of it. Weapons within reach. Not that they were needed. It was thankfully an uneventful night. Daryl watched out the window for a while and Aliya read from a book on organic gardening she'd found in the family room downstairs. They both dropped off to sleep pretty quickly.

The next morning, Daryl woke first and coughed loudly, on purpose, to wake her up and get going. There were more houses in the neighborhood to check out, inventory. It was raining now, the ice melting quickly. By the time they were ready to leave, the ice would be gone from the roadways and they'd be ok to drive.

Daryl checked out the garage for tools and equipment while Aliya made breakfast, oatmeal and coffee. Neither of them said much while they ate and got ready to go. Aliya had put her hair up in a tight bun and ditched the skirt for a pair of jeans and a button-down shirt under a denim jacket. That was more of the Aliya that Daryl had come to recognize. He noticed, though, she was still wearing a hint of eye makeup, and chuckled to himself.

They moved through the first two houses on the left with ease. Vehicles still in garages, food in well-stocked pantries. Both houses had generators and one had a large tank out back, the hot water and heating system running on propane. As they were walking through the back yard between the other hoses to the right, a walker came careening out of the woods toward them, arms flapping wildly as it struggled to maintain it's balance with one of it's legs almost severed, clothing in tatters. Aliya raised her rifle automatically to her shoulder and sighted in the center of it's head. "No noise." Daryl said, letting a bolt fly, dropping the walker just yards from them.

"You're takin' all the fun outta this, Dixon."

"Sorry. We getta' decent fence built 'n I'll set you up with a tree stand. Shoot 'em 'til the cows come home." he said, half-joking.

"Promise?" she said, with a gleam in her eye.

"Yeah." he grinned. "Swear."

"Cool." she licked her lips.

Daryl shook his head slowly as he pulled the bolt from the walker and wiped it on the ground. He was really starting to like this chick.

XXXXX

They drove back to the camp with no more walker encounters and little trouble from the road. They arrived just after lunch and had much to tell the others. The layout, the houses, the fence situation, how many walkers and where, what all they found in the houses. Everyone was excited, especially at the prospect of hot water and food. They decided to begin to break camp and plan to be on the move by the next afternoon.

XXXXX

When they all arrived, the first thing they did was to sit down together and figure out who was going to room with whom. Six bedrooms suddenly didn't feel like enough all of a sudden. Lori, Rick and Carl got the master bedroom since they had the largest family. Carol and Andrea took another room, Dale and Stuart, Glenn and T-Dog, Bridgette and Aliya, which left Shane and Daryl together in the last remaining bedroom. That discussion quickly morphed into a vote in favor of Daryl taking over the den in the basement. Not a soul dissented.

They set about moving their belongings in and then fixing a hot meal. Afterwards, a schedule was made of chores, guard duty, showering, and household duties. Then the men sat together and talked about obtaining enough chain link fencing to initially secure the grounds. The walker problem stemmed not from the front gate and the fencing that spread out from there on the front of the subdivision, but from the back. The thick woods that the homeowners surely cherished had left them wide open for anyone and anything. Deer and the occasional wild boar were one thing. Walkers and intruders were a whole 'nother.

Daryl was sitting on the porch, smoking a stale cigarette after the meeting broke up and people were getting settled in. Aliya came out and sat down on the step and put her head in her hands, not noticing him.

"You two roomies get all cozy?"

"Not funny. I'm about to waste a bullet."

"Aww, what's 'a matter?" he grinned. "I'll bet it's just like a slumber party. Call me when ya' have a pillow fight in yer' jammies, 'k?" he teased.

"The girl is talking about nail polish. Daryl, nail polish. Please, just kill me now, ok?"

Daryl tried to keep from laughing but it was too hard. He shook his head and started to snicker.

"This isn't funny." Aliya rolled her eyes. "Maybe Shane would take me in."

"Don't even joke about that." Daryl said, turning serious. "Don't say that again." he said, pointing a finger at her.

Aliya looked at him and blinked, frowning. "Why not?"

"Stay tha' hell 'way from him. I'm not kiddin'." He was scowling now.

"Fine then. You wake up some night and I'm sleeping on your floor, don't you say a damn thing then."

"Not a problem." he said, flicking the cigarette butt off the porch and walking back into the house. "Slept with ya' last night, 'member."

XXXXX

Aliya swung the baseball bat hard and shattered the walker's jaw into a million pieces. She spun around with the momentum of the bat and brought it around in a full circle and hit it in the side of the head, knocking it down. She brought the bat down hard on it's skull repeatedly and caved it in more with a sickening series of cracks and splooshes as bone shattered and brain disintegrated. Her pants were speckled with blood and matter. She turned around in time to see a second walker advancing on Rick from behind and she pulled the .9 mm from the back of her belt and fired off a shot before it got too close and there was any risk of missing it and hitting him. She was frustrated at having to make noise _and_ waste the bullets.

Rick turned around after taking the head off the walker in front of him with an axe and looked at the one on the ground behind him. He looked towards Aliya and nodded in appreciation. She raised a hand to waive and T-Dog came running from behind the brick building which housed the construction supply company. "We gotta go. Truck's loaded." The three sprinted around back to the gate and towards the vehicles. Shane was driving a large flat-bed truck he'd hotwired. It was loaded with fencing and uprights. Aliya's idea to find fencing had worked. She hopped in Rick's SUV and Daryl climbed in behind her, shutting the door quickly. He reached around the seat as Rick started the vehicle and grabbed her gently by the shoulder. "Any problems?"

"Nothing we couldn't handle." she said, turning to look at him. "You?"

"A few. No more than we expected, given tha' noise we was making loading that fencin'." he shook his head. "Put on yer' seatbelt." he said, winking.

XXXXX

Aliya locked the slide into place and gave the barrel one last loving wipe with the cleaning rag, removing any trace of fingerprints. She kissed it softly and jumped with a start when Daryl cleared his throat behind her.

"Jesus." she croaked, turning quickly to see him grinning at her. "Oh, what, you tell me you never kissed that Horton of yours before? I've seen you. You fondle that thing like you're in the back seat at a drive in." she laughed. "I'm surprised you ain't got a promise ring dangling from the end of it."

"Shut up. That Scout's what keeps us safe…'n fed."

"Didn't say it didn't. I love that crossbow of yours. I just know you do too." she smiled. "A lot."

"I weren't tha' one making out wi' a Glock a second ago."

"Hey, we go way back. I love my baby." she stroked the grip lovingly.

"I don't wanna' hear 'bout yer' sex life, thanks." he said winking.

"Ha!" she said, throwing the cleaning rag at him, "he's getting more action that you and I put together, lately."

Daryl sat down at the small wooden picnic table and looked at Aliya. The girl had taken out probably a dozen walkers in a parking lot this morning without even blinking and was sitting here in dirty clothes, dried blood and mud spattered on her face, and a clean weapon and it wasn't even four o'clock. Priorities, he thought to himself. "Notice anything' lately?" he asked.

"Yeah. We're running into a lot more walkers than normal, aren't we."

"Yup." Daryl nodded.

"Why?"

"Dunno. Runnin' out a' food maybe."

"Maybe. Got any ideas?" Aliya squinted as she looked at him.

"Nope. But if a horde smells us, it won't be good."

"We gotta' be proactive then, huh?" she said. It was more of a statement than a question.

"'s what I'm thinking'." he nodded.

Aliya looked away and rubbed her jaw slowly, lost in thought.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Seriously." she said.

"Well, now, that's a pretty interesting proposal, there. How do we know it will work?" Shane was smiling. Aliya didn't like him when he smiled. He had one of those smiles she'd seen on cops all her life. The I'm-your-friend-you-can-trust-me smile that was a little too toothy, a little too forced. Disingenuous. Hiding a lie.

"I just told you how it will work." she said, keeping her eyes on Rick instead.

"That is one very interesting proposal, there. Yess'm, I have to say…well, I…" he gave an uneasy laugh, "…I don't know quite what to say." Rick said, studying Aliya's no-nonsense expression.

"Cheap, easy, effective. Hardest part will be the pit."

"Surely you're not taking this seriously." Andrea scoffed.

"Why tha' fuck not?" Daryl interjected.

"It's ludicrous. A pit trap. Burn them?" Andrea had her arms folded over her chest and was shaking her head. "That's just sick."

"They used napalm in Atlanta. We all know _that _didn't work." Shane said.

"They dropped it from helicopters. It wasn't targeted. The walkers were too spread out to do a lot of good." Aliya was trying to keep her voice calm. "This would be different."

"And just where do you think we can get Napalm? We're not the Army." Andrea again.

"Did you listen to _any _part of what I said?" Aliya was losing patience. She didn't know why Andrea was rubbing her wrong more than usual but tonight it was hard for her not to walk over to her and punch her in the mouth.

"Ok, ok, let's just all keep this calm." Rick said. "I have two questions. First. Digging the pit. We'll need something big. Really big. Second. Is this the right thing to do? Would it put us in danger?"

"I don't think there's anything _wrong _about it Rick. You said yourself you were concerned about all the walker activity in town lately and what happens when they start moving? We don't know what they're going to do in cold weather. You've seen 'em horde up before, move in a mass. Remember what happened on the interstate?" Shane started talking faster, getting more agitated with every new thought. "If they come through here and there are enough of them, no fence could hold them and we don't have enough weapons to fend them off. We have to take out as many as we can. We have to cull the herd. _Now_."

Aliya looked in Shane's eyes. They were gleaming with excitement. Kinda' frightening, but ok, she thought, he's on board, that's for sure.

"There was a big backhoe at that construction company in town. We could use it to dig the pit." Glenn spoke up. He'd been quiet until now, taking things all in. This was a scary proposition they were listening to. If it didn't work, they would be faced with a mass of walkers - more than they could handle. If it did, it might be a way to deal with them once and for all. The best part was, he was not going to be used as bait. At least no one had suggested that they suspend him above the pit. At least not yet.

T-Dog cleared his throat. "Guys. I am all over that backhoe."

Aliya looked at him. "Seriously? You can operate one?"

"Shit yeah," he grinned. "Hea-vee equipment op-a-ray-taaah!" he laughed.

"This is too freakin' perfect." Aliya said. "That's the missing piece we need." She looked at Glenn and smiled. "No walker bait this time. Promise."

"I say we take a vote then." Shane stood up, his chair scooting against the floor with a loud screech. "Everybody in favor of digging a pit and toasting every walker we can shove in it, raise your hand."

"Now, just hold on a minute, Shane." Rick said. "If it works, is this right?"

"Right?" Daryl huffed. "Is it right they're tryin' ta' eat us?"

"It's either us or them." Shane said. "Right and wrong, Rick, it don't enter into this no more."

"Yes, it does." Aliya spoke up. "Rick. I understand. This is gruesome at best. But, what's the difference in doing this as opposed to picking them off one at a time as they're attacking us when we go into town every week?"

Rick looked down at his hands for a minute. "You're right. They're becoming more of a threat. We have to do something." he nodded his head. "All in favor?"

Everyone's hands went up. "You're sure you can take care of the rest if we dig a pit?" Rick was looking directly at Aliya now.

"Piece of cake." Aliya said, nodding. "Do it in my sleep."

"Looks like we're in business then." Rick said, looking around at the group.

XXXXX

Daryl pulled Aliya by the elbow away from the festivities and down the basement stairs to his room. She had a shoe-box-sized package, wrapped in red and gold paper with a gold ribbon. He sat her down on the sofa by the arms and sat next to her. "Me first." he grinned. He was like a kid, almost giddy. He'd been waiting for a couple weeks to give her the present. He'd had to talk Dale into trading names with him, after the others had decided that it would be fun to draw names instead of trying to find presents for everyone. Daryl was skeptical at first, but what the hell, everyone else seemed excited about Christmas, Aliya included, which kinda' surprised him. He was surprising himself at how excited _he_ was.

Daryl handed her the small box wrapped in brown paper with a green twirly ribbon tie. Aliya put it to her ear and shook it.

"It rattles. What is it?" she smiled. "Dixon if this is part of something dead, I'm gonna kill you myself."

"See for yourself." he said, nodding at the present. Aliya pulled the ribbon off and opened the paper. She paused to look at him cautiously, her head down, eyes looking up at his, lower lip starting to curl into her mouth at the corner. She was nervous, he could tell that much from the lip. Aliya pulled off the lid slowly and moved the cotton aside.

When she saw the contents, she froze, lip in full bite. She looked up at Daryl again. "Dixon?" She blinked, looked down and looked up at him. "Are those…?"

"Yeah. "

"They're…beautiful. I…" she stammered, staring at the pair of pearl earrings. "I've never had pearls before." She picked up one by the gold post and looked at it, twirling it between her thumb an forefinger. "Beautiful." she whispered.

"Lori tol' me every girl needs ta' have a pair a' pearl earrings."

"Daryl, thank you. They're just…I just…they're perfect." Aliya had a little tear in the corner of her eye. "I can't wear them."

"Why not? They'll fit. Don't you like 'em?"

"I love them. Too much. I'd be so afraid I'd lose them. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to them." she said, closing her eyes.

"Don't wear them out of the house, then. Just wear them here."

Aliya was quiet for a moment and then nodded her head. "Sure. Yeah. I can do that. Just here." She was smiling now, as she ran her fingers lightly over the smooth, cool, small round orbs. "Thank you." she whispered, looking up at Daryl again. "Damn. This makes mine seem stupid."

"You had my name?" Daryl said. "How'd ya' get my name? I thought Stuart had my name."

"I made him trade me." she giggled. "This is really going to suck." she said, handing him the box from beside her.

Daryl took the box and was surprised at the weight. He shook it. It didn't make much noise. "What tha' hell?" he said. "Open it?"

"Yeah, I guess. I feel so bad now." she winced.

Daryl pulled the ribbon off the box and tore into the paper, pulling the lid off and pushing aside the tissue paper. He stopped when he saw the four spray paint cans. He picked one up and rattled it. Empty.

"Really, you shouldn't have." he said.

"I didn't know how to wrap a water tower." she said quietly. Daryl frowned, obviously confused. He turned his head sideways and wiggled the can in his hand and looked at her sideways. "It's the only way I could think to tell you what I've been doing. For the last two months, every time we've gone on a supply run or to check out a new place, I've been leaving directions. For Merle. Sometimes on the town's water tower if I can, sometimes on store windows or the sides of buildings. Places he'd see if he hit town. Sometimes just on cars."

"What?"

"Merle Dixon. 40 miles south. East Laurel. Merle Dixon go to East Laurel. Stuff like that. To tell him where you are."

"You been tryin' ta' find my brother?"

"Yeah. That's ok, with you, right?" she said, searching his eyes for any sign of emotion. "It just seems like the only thing to do. He's out there and we're out there running around - who's to say that we've not been in some of the same places. We need to find him, Daryl. _You _need to find him."

"Bet Rick gave ya' shit about that." Daryl said, rubbing the back of his head.

"At first, but I just reminded him of a couple things and he backed down. Shane was the one that was really pissed, though."

"Fuck him."

"Pretty much what I said, give or take a few other choice words." she grinned. "So you're not mad?"

Daryl shook his head and turned away. Aliya put her hand on his knee. He turned back and looked at her. "This 's…" he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "…tha' nicest thing anybody ever did for me." he said quietly. Aliya looked at him closely. He was biting his thumbnail and he had a strange look on his face. He kept looking at her and then looking away. She had no words either right now, realizing how close Daryl was to losing it, so she just nodded.

Daryl sat the box down beside him and took the small box out of Aliya's and sat it down on top. He turned towards her and put his arms around her shoulders, pulling her in for a hug, holding her close for a long time. Aliya was surprised by his actions and put her arms around his back, pressing against him. Daryl's head turned slightly and she realized that he'd kissed the side of her head. She pulled away slightly, in time to see that he'd had his eyes tightly shut.

"Daryl." she said softly. He opened his eyes. Their faces were just inches apart. "You remember that time you got thrown by the horse at Greene's farm and got the bolt through you?"

"Yeah." he said.

"Remember telling me that you saw Merle and he said he was the only one who was ever gonna' care about you?" her voice was a shade above a whisper.

"Yeah." he nodded his head.

"He was wrong." she shook her head. "Way wrong. I do. I care about you too." she said, reaching up and putting her hand on the side of his face.

Daryl's heart pretty much melted at that point. He'd never had much in the way of friendships, but he knew that in the last few weeks they'd grown pretty close. He'd never had girl friends, let alone anyone who'd just told them something like what she'd said. Not only did she care about him enough to say it out loud to him, she had been proving it behind his back all along. Without him even knowing it.


	5. Chapter 5

_Thanks for your reviews, alerts and favorites, as always. _

**Chapter 5**

Daryl looked at Aliya and didn't say anything. He was pressing and she was pushing back. He needed answers.

"No." she said quietly.

"Damnit. What's the big deal."

"The big deal is that it's none of your damn business." she said loudly.

"How?" he repeated.

She folded her arms across her chest and blew a wayward strand of hair out of her face. "Are we done here?"

"We ain't done 'til ya' tell me."

"It's not any of your business. Just let it go." Her voice was hard and she was frowning.

"Then 'least tell me why ya' don't want me ta' know."

"I just did, Dixon."

"No, ya' didn't. Ya' said it weren't none a' my business. It sure is my business."

"How do you figure _that_?" Aliya said, reaching for the cigarette in his hand and putting it between her lips. She took a long drag and handed it back to him, turning her head sideways to exhale the smoke from her nostrils.

Daryl couldn't answer for a second. He was more than a little taken aback. "I ain't never see ya' smoke before."

"See, there's a lot about me you ain't seen and don't know and yet we're getting along just _fine_." she said, narrowing her eyes a bit.

"I'm not playin' 'round here." he said, his frustration starting to build.

"Neither am I." she hissed. Aliya could sense he was starting to get more tense. So was she. She knew this day would come and every time she started to think about how she'd handle the questions, she pushed it back out of her mind. But she didn't want to fight. Her shoulders fell. "Listen, Dixon, it's personal. There's stuff I don't want you to know."

"Why not?" he said, squinting.

"Oh, Christ!" she said, her voice tight, her fists clenched now. "Because if I told you, you wouldn't like me anymore, damn it!"

"I'm not liking you much 't all right now." he said. He sighed loudly. "Don't shut me out."

"I'm not trying to." she said, sighing. "I just, it's…not good."

"How bad could it be? I told ya' stuff about …'n Merle. Ya' know more 'bout me than I do 'bout you."

"I know. This is…different."

"What, were you a narc?"

"_Fuck_ no!" she said.

"Then what? Were you in jail?" Aliya froze. He could tell by the look on her face that he'd hit a nerve. She looked at him, trying not to bolt from the room. "How do ya' think that's bad? Merle's been locked up more times 'n I can count. I was in juvie for six months. Ain't no big deal."

"I know."

"Tell me. I already guessed, didn't I?"

She turned away from him. "There's more. A lot more."

"Just tell me."

"Daryl." She pressed her lips together and looked down at her feet and then back up. "It's real bad. I'm…not proud…" she stopped, looking back up at him, her eyes moist. "I don't think I can do it."

"Ok. Let's do this." Daryl rose and walked to the desk in the corner and pulled an almost-full bottle of Jack Daniels from the bottom drawer. He turned back to the davenport and sat down next to her, handing her the bottle. "Tell me tha' beginning."

"Drinking won't make it better." she said.

"No, but it'll come out easier." he said, reaching to the bottle and unscrewing the cap. "Come on."

"Shit. I feel like I'm about to lose my best friend." she said, taking a long drink.

"I'm yer' best friend?" he said, grinning.

"You're my only friend." she said. "You're the only person I trust."

Daryl nodded slowly and took the bottle from her. "Me too." he said, taking a large gulp and wincing when he swallowed. "Now out with it." he said, his voice gravelly from the burn.

XXXXX

Aliya Marie Henderson was the only daughter of Sheppard "Duke" and Mary Frances Henderson of Atlanta, Georgia. She had three older brothers who taught her everything they knew. Nick was the first born, followed by twins, Joseph and Jackson, and then four years later, Aliya, who was the apple of her father's eye.

Mary Frances left Duke when Aliya was a baby and moved to a small town outside of St. Louis. Briefly. She then returned to Atlanta. Mary Frances wasn't _inclined _to leave again…and by that, she was made to understand that if she ever was so inclined to try to leave again, she'd be coming back quickly. In a pine box. The made-to-understand part left her with scars on her back and legs for the rest of her life. Mary Frances knew several things about her husband Duke. One, he was one of the biggest arms and pot dealers in the metro-Atlanta area. Two, he wasn't joking about killing. She'd seen him do it.

By the time Aliya was ready for school, she knew more about guns and drugs than most cops. She knew that guns were for business and drugs were for stupid people and that Daddy made a lot of money off of both. She also knew that you didn't talk about either of them to anyone outside the family. She was taught not to trust anybody and not to ask questions. Do what Daddy and Mommy say and follow the family rules. It was that simple.

Aliya's father was well-known to law enforcement. He was also smart and very cautious. There was not much the cops could ever pin on Duke and make stick. That being said, about once a year, the Henderson home was raided by either the feds or the state boys. They never found much of anything. Once, her brother got caught with two joints stuffed in a carved-out book in his room and the federal marshal that found them just handed them to Duke and said that nothing they could do to Nick that would come near what he was gonna get from his own Daddy. Nick got the beating of a lifetime to enforce one of the more important of those Henderson Family rules. You don't use drugs. Ever.

When Aliya was starting third grade, Duke decided that public school was "a waste of time" and pulled all the kids out, keeping them at home from then on. What he was really doing was keeping the children away from the prying eyes of school officials, law enforcement and child welfare. His kids were well-educated, clean, well-fed and better-behaved than most of the other kids in that school. But that didn't stop the cops from trying to work the teachers and classroom aides to pump the Henderson kids for information, which invariably never came. Several times, the new student teacher turned out to be an undercover agent. To say the kids were tight-lipped was an understatement. Frustrated the hell out of everyone who tried.

Aliya loved staying at home. They lived on the outskirts of the west part of town on several acres with woods, a large, stocked pond, and lots of animals. They had what would probably be called a "compound" today: large house, outbuildings, fencing, security cameras and dogs, the whole works. At times, there were armed men patrolling the perimeter and stationed at the front gate. Aliya knew it wasn't like other kid's homes, but she didn't question it. It was just, well, the way it was.

In the mornings she would work on school with Momma and she'd spend her afternoons with Daddy. She was definitely Daddy's girl and showed an interest in guns early-on. He taught her everything about shooting and taking care of firearms. He also taught her the finer points of the sale and delivery of marijuana, his "other business." Duke didn't normally grow marijuana, he had a whole cadre of others to do that for him. He was more of an "import-export man" as he would often say.

Duke, as a role model, was a curious man. Liberal about some things, rigid about others. Drink all you want, no dope of any kind. Dope makes you slow and stupid. "A good businessman, Darlin, doesn't use his product" he used to tell her. This was somewhat hypocritical, as Duke was not only a distributor but a connoisseur of fine moonshine, in addition to the marijuana business. Duke sold quite a bit of coke in the 80's as well, but he just normally stuck to pot. The 'shine was more of a hobby, Unless there was a deal that was just too good to pass up on. Business was business, after all. He left the meth clean alone but had been known to hijack a truck or two if it had a particularly large shipment of "pharmaceuticals." Oxycontin and Vicodin was always a money-maker.

When she was sixteen, Aliya's world ended. Almost literally. The feds had gained inside information into one of Duke's biggest deals involving a shipment of some "hard to find" items that he was brokering between a certain group of foreign nationals and a local gang. Hard to find, being defined as totally illegal on every level and enough to make the feds' mouth water. They couldn't make him for any one of the number of mysterious disappearances they suspected he had a hand in, or any of the drug sales for years, but what they had this time was enough to put him away for life. Probably a couple of his boys as well. They had Duke, two of his sons and about three of his employees by the short curlies, as Duke would say, they closed in with a vengeance at the abandoned drive-in.

What they didn't know was that Duke's daughter was with her Dad and brothers that evening when the deal went down. When the shooting started, Aliya, or "Shadow" as she was known, pulled out a piece from the back of her belt and started shooting back. When the shooting ended, three officers were wounded, one dead, two of Duke's men were dead and his oldest son, Nick, died later that night in the hospital. Aliya was wounded, as well, when she went to help her fallen brother.

The shooting made the national news and her father and brother were given life sentences at their trial. Duke Henderson died of a heart attack in the penitentiary and her brother Jackson was stabbed to death in a fight a year later. Aliya's remaining brother, Joseph, fled to Missouri and jailed there on weapons charges. Not quite as adept at covering his tracks as his father, Joey was going to be a guest of the Missouri penal system for 20 years. Mary Frances was killed in a suspicious automobile accident shortly after Jackson's death. It was widely assumed that she had committed suicide by driving into the river on purpose, but it was never proven.

Sixteen-year-old Aliya's world was gone. Everything and almost everyone she knew was taken from her. She had known that her family was not normal but she never knew just how "not" normal they were until she got a dose of reality from law enforcement and the rest of the people she encountered. The nurses and staff at the hospital treated her like she was trash, none of them were sympathetic. A couple were especially cruel and rough and volunteered that they were married to police officers and didn't even want to be around her, much less help her. The police officers questioned her mercilessly, keeping her awake for hours, refusing to give her food or water, threatening her, taunting her. Even the other kids at the group home either tried to bully her or were so afraid of her they totally ignored her.

Aliya was alone and had to use the only things she had left to survive. She was determined to do just that, however. She still had a couple things she could count on. First, everything she was ever taught by her Dad or her brothers…and second, willpower. Henderson willpower.

**XXXXX**

Daryl sat there dumbfounded. They had been passing the bottle back and forth slowly and it was about three-quarters gone.

"Well, fucking say _something_, Daryl." she said quietly, taking another sip and wiping her lips with the back of her hand.

"Holy shit." he said quietly. He was sitting at her feet on the floor now. He remembered the story from the news. He figured Merle had probably done business with Duke Henderson somewhere along the line. Hell, Merle'd probably _worked_ for Duke at some time. Daryl had been totally rapt as she recounted her family history. He could tell just how painful much of the story was for her. At one point, he realized that she was leaning forward towards him and he was sitting on his knees in front of her, their faces close, his hands on her knees. "I had no idea."

"Now do you see why I didn't want to tell you?"

"No." he said. "Coulda' told me."

"Please. Tell me you're not thinking that I'm nothing more than a white trash, cop-killing, drug dealing felon right now."

"I ain't." Daryl ran his hands through his hair and blew out a loud breath. "Tell me tha' rest."

"I don't know if I can."

"Sure ya' can. I gotta' know how ya' ended up here."

"I think in _your _truck, if I remember right." Aliya was trying desperately and not so subtly to change the subject.

"Ya' know what I mean."

"Haven't you heard enough?"

"No."

"You're a glutton for punishment."

"And yer' a sixteen-year-old girl with a gunshot wound. Finish yer' story."

"Jesus." she said, taking a drink from the bottle. "Alright." she sighed deeply and started again. " There were two bullets. Here…and here." she pointed towards a place near her stomach and then down a few inches. The real problem was the infection I got in the hospital. I was there for six weeks. They wouldn't let me see anybody, including my own mother. They charged me as an adult but Daddy made a deal with the prosecutor that if they went easy on me, he'd give them everything they wanted." she sighed. "I went to a group home until I was eighteen and then to a women's facility until I was twenty-one. That was the deal. He convinced them I didn't really know what I was doing, I was just doing what I'd been raised to do. Defend my family."

"Damn. Bet that was rough."

"You have no idea. Changed me. Hardened me, as if being a Henderson hadn't already. I had to go to my mother's funeral in handcuffs." Daryl put his hand back on her knee and Aliya put hers on top of it unconsciously. He could feel her hand trembling slightly.

"I got out and was on four years' parole. I got lucky that my p.o. was a real good person. She was real patient. She could have sent me back any number of times that first year, but she didn't. Not even when the first guy I took up with turned out to be a psycho. She didn't give up. She didn't back down. She called me on my shit and made me toe the line. 'Court-appointed, federally-approved tough love' she called it. Ol' Gloria pretty much saved my life."

"You _were _lucky." Daryl whispered, squeezing her knee. "Most p.o.'s don't give a shit 'bout nuthin'."

"I got my ass together, got away from L.T., Gloria helped me get a real job, picked up some college classes here and there, managed to scrape enough money together to buy a little house. Settled into a routine, just me and my dog."

"Pit bull?" he said.

Aliya laughed. "Sorry to disappoint…white German shepherd."

"Nice. Go on."

"That's about it. That's where the drama ends, just me and my Duke…until this walker crap started in."

"Boyfriend?"

"No thanks." she shook her head. "Who'd want me? Felony convictions for attempted murder of a police officer, possession and trafficking of stolen weapons? Not exactly the kind of girl you'd take home to your mother. Only guys interested are the kind I need to stay the hell away from."

"Like me."

"Yeah, like you. You are definitely a bad influence. I need to stay away from _you_." she said, as she poked Daryl in the chest with her index finger, grinning. She sat back. "So. Now you know. Everything."

Daryl sat back and looked at her. "It stays wi' me. Ok?"

"It'd better. They can't know." she said, gesturing to the door with her head. Not ever."

Daryl nodded his head in agreement. He opened his mouth and then hesitated briefly, thinking. "Where'd you get tha' Glock then?"

"Huh?" his question had thrown Aliya off.

"Ya' got a felony on yer' record. How'd ya' get a gun?"

"Hmm…dunno. Musta' fell off a truck." she smiled. "Now. I'm hungry and I need something to soak up some of this alcohol. Let's go upstairs and raid the pantry."

Daryl stood up and then Aliya stood up. She turned and he grabbed her elbow and spun her around to face him. "Thanks."

"Why?"

"Know that was hard."

"You have _no_ idea." she whispered.

"Yeah. I do."

Aliya swallowed. "We still friends?"

"Yup." Daryl nodded.

"Thanks for not judging."

"Glass houses." he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, they _do _tend to be a bad place to hide skeletons, huh?" she smiled.

_A/N: No this is not autobiographical! _


	6. Chapter 6

_**Caution: Not for the squeamish. This is rated M!**_

**Chapter 6**

The backhoe moved the earth in slow gaping mouth-fulls, scooping it up, turning, and depositing it to the side while Rick, Shane, Aliya and Daryl picked off walkers one-by-one as they ambled up to check out the noise the beast of a machine made. It took what seemed like forever, but when T-Dog was done, they had a fifteen-foot deep pit, twenty foot long and ten foot wide. No walker could climb out of it, fall across it, or escape.

They left the pit open and returned the next day, erecting a makeshift fence in a wide vee-shape from out front to the front corners. The plan was for walkers to come down the roadway, into the chute that the fencing made, and come towards the pit. They were going to have to do something to attract them towards the pit. This was going to be easy to do, judging from the number that had show interests in the backhoe's noise.

Aliya volunteered to create that noise. "No fuckin' way." Daryl said. "You ain't gonna be walker bait."

"I'll be fine. Piece of cake." she said. I'll be at the back. They can't get to me.

"It's too risky." he shook his head. "Let one of us do it."

"No. You guys need to be taking care of the ones that don't make it down towards the pit. I can handle it." Aliya was adamant.

"What if one gets 'round tha' side ta' tha' back 'n comes after ya'. Tha' only place you got ta' go is tha' pit." Daryl was concerned. Hell, he was just plain scared of the possibility.

"You doubting your abilities, Dixon?" she smiled, her head tilted sideways.

"Fuck no." he said loudly.

"Then stop worryin'." she said, smacking his arm. Daryl turned around and looked at the water tower. "Merle. East. 6 ½ miles" in big florescent pink letters a foot tall. He smiled, reminding himself the he shouldn't be doubting her abilities either.

XXXXX

The walkers were slow to come at first, but after a while there were more…and more…and the plan seemed like it would work well. They ambled down the main road, towards Aliya, who was making noise and beating on a garbage can lid with a stick. "Here walker, walker." she yelled at one point, making Daryl grin despite himself. They would either just keep going and fall in themselves, or they would reach out for Aliya and one of the guys would give them a push over the edge with a long pole.

After about an hour, Glenn, who was stationed on top of the truck as a lookout, let them know that there was a large horde coming. "Guys! Walkers." he called as he pointed. "Lots of 'em." he shouted. Rick and Shane threw each other a nervous glance.

"Here we go, kids." T-Dog said. "There's probably sixty or seventy of 'em."

Aliya started to yell and jump up and down and the horde took note. They started ambling a bit faster and heading right for the pit. Closer and closer they moved until the ones in front, the fastest ones, reached the edge and fell in. The others followed closely behind the ones in front, so many of them were at the edge and over before they could realize what was going on. That is, if they had been capable of _recognizing _just what was going on. Most of them just started running for Aliya when they saw her and gravity took over at the edge of the pit.

A few didn't manage to make it to the pit and the men took them out easily with their weapons, which attracted even more walkers. It was a win-win situation if there was such a thing. Rick was amazed. Shane was having fun. Daryl was just plain proud. Scared to death, but oddly proud.

After a while, not a lot more walkers showed up. Apparently most of the walkers in town had already joined the horde and were in the pit already. Aliya looked at Rick and Daryl and nodded. "It's time." she said quietly. She peered over the edge of the pit. It was about half full of moaning, writhing, formerly-living bodies. It was an incredible sight, an undulating sea of flesh and bone. She reminded herself that these were DEAD people. Not capable of conscious thought. No emotions other than the bloodlust to kill and eat living flesh. To kill and eat _them._

She moved back to the pick-up truck and pulled out the large garden sprayer and carried it gingerly to the pit. She pumped the sprayer as much as she could, building up as much pressure in the tank, and looked around at the guys, who pretty much had just stepped back to let her work. It was obvious to everyone involved that she knew what the hell she was doing and that she was in charge. That worried Rick a bit. "Ok, you guys stay back." she said, looking around. If this nozzle starts to leak, I'm just gonna pitch the whole thing in the pit. It'll have the same results, just a little more…explosive."

Daryl watched Aliya work closely. He was standing about six feet from her as she checked the connections and the hoses. T-Dog was next to her, with a fire extinguisher ready. Daryl had insisted on it. They looked at each other, exchanging worried glances.

"'K. Here goes." Aliya said, breathing deeply and holding in the breath. The liquid that spewed from the end of the nozzle ignited instantly into a hellish blaze. It streamed down into the pit in a gentle arc that can best be described as liquid fire, beautiful and terrifying at the same time. It landed on it's targets, enveloping them in the inferno as the thin gel spread across their putrid flesh, burning everything with a red and yellow flame. The heat was intense, even from a distance. Aliya slowly guided the nozzle back and forth across the width of the pit, giving the handle a few pumps to keep the pressure up, making sure every inch of the inside of the pit was covered. After a few seconds, the smell of burning flesh was sickening, stifling. The scene was something straight out of hell.

Aliya was trying to hide the fact that her hands were shaking. She wasn't nervous about the mechanics of what she was doing. Hell, this was old hat. She really didn't understand why she was shaking, or about to cry. Her face was hot from the heat, which made her back up as the tank sputtered and the liquefied fire started to spurt and dribble. She kept a close eye on the end of the nozzle as she lowered the nozzle towards the ground and the last of the liquid ran out. Aliya put the nozzle and wand down on the ground and threw a handful of sand on it from a bucket next to her. She turned around, her back to the blaze in the pit. She didn't say anything, just looked at the men and raised her eyebrows.

"How long do we…" Glenn called down from the top of the truck. "…you know," he pointed, "let it…burn?"

Aliya looked over her shoulder. "A while." she said quietly. She looked at Daryl, who was walking over to her now.

"You ok?" he whispered, looking around at the others.

"Nuh-huh." she said under her breath. He looked at her closer. Her hands were shaking and he could see she was holding her breath. Her face was bright from the heat and her eyes were rimmed red.

He put his hand on her back and moved her quickly to the other side of the truck, out of view of the others. He looked up at Glenn and scowled. Glenn understood the glare immediately and quickly jumped down, joining the others, watching the makeshift crematorium, having moved as close to the pit as the heat would allow. Daryl popped the tailgate of the truck down and lifted Aliya up. Her face was pale now, her cheeks and forehead now bright red like she was sunburned, but the rest of her was white as a sheet.

"Breathe." he said quietly.

"I can't. The smell. Jesus." she closed her eyes and shook her head. She put her palms over her eyes and lowered her head, her shoulders shaking. Daryl realized she was starting to cry. He put both hands on her shoulders and started to pull her into him when Rick appeared behind him and cleared his throat.

"Everything ok?" Rick asked, realizing that things were definitely not ok.

"No. Need ta' get her outta' here."

"Ok. We can handle it. When…things…stop burning, we'll cover it and be back to the house. You two go on. Get out of here."

Aliya sat up and smoothed her hair back with her hands. "I'm fine. I just got a little hot. We're not going anywhere. It's ok."

"Hell if we're not." Daryl shook his head. "Meet ya' back at tha' house." he looked at Rick and then towards T-Dog, who had walked up as well. Daryl pulled Aliya off the tailgate of the truck and walked her around to the passenger side, turning a deaf ear to her protests. "Get in tha' damn truck." he growled, opening the door. Aliya hopped in, defeated, as Daryl shut the door behind her with a loud thud.

XXXXX

Daryl and Aliya drove in silence for about five minutes until Aliya put both hands on the dash and said "Stop the truck." Daryl slowed down considerably and looked at her but didn't stop the truck. "Please, Daryl, stop this fucking truck. NOW." she said emphatically, putting a hand over her mouth. Daryl realized what was happening and pulled over with a lurch.

Aliya had the door open before the truck came to a stop and hopped out, taking only a couple steps before she hurled. She bent over, her hands on her knees, and lowered her head, vomiting violently into the grass on the side of the road. By the time Daryl rounded the truck, she was almost done…but not quite. She finished and wiped her mouth off with the back of her hand, standing upright. Daryl handed her a bottle of water out of the back of the truck and noticed her hand was still shaking.

He pulled her by the elbow to the back and once more threw down the tailgate with his other hand. Aliya put her hand against it and her knees buckled. Daryl caught her before she hit the ground and hauled her up on her feet. "Easy there." he whispered. "I gotcha'."

"Fuck me." she said, grabbing his arm. She gulped down a couple big breaths and swallowed some of the water. "I don't believe I just did that." she sighed.

"Y'ok?" he said, his hand still on her arm. She was still shaking.

"Peachy." she said.

"Let's get ya' home." he said.

"No. I need to get back-"

"You ain't goin' back there until they're all done ." he said.

"Hey, this was all my idea. I need to see it through." she pulled away from him.

"Are ya' fuckin' kiddin' me?" he said. "Ya' kicked ass today. It worked great. Now ya' need a break."

Aliya shook her head. "What I need is a drink."

"Let's go." he said, stepping back from the tailgate.

They drove the rest of the way with Aliya looking out the passenger window, silent. When they arrived, they walked straight to the basement, ignoring the questions from Andrea, Dale and the others. Daryl pulled out a bottle and sat it down in front of Aliya. "Hit it." he said. "Then get yer ass in tha' shower." he said.

Aliya unscrewed the cap and took a long drink. Then another. Daryl walked upstairs and found Bridgette in the kitchen. He asked her for a change of clothes for Aliya and she cheerfully returned in about five minutes, breathlessly gushing about not knowing what was the occasion, so she included something for Aliya to wear right now and something to sleep in. Daryl glowered at her for the implication. "She's overheated. She'll be _fine_." he hissed.

Daryl returned and Aliya was sitting on the floor in front of the couch, bottle between her knees, staring straight ahead. She didn't flinch when he entered the room, nor did she move when he sat the clothes down next to her and plopped on the couch. She slowly turned to him. He could see she'd been crying.

"What's wrong with me?" she said.

"Nothin'." he said.

"Did we do a bad thing today?"

"Fuck no." he frowned.

"Then why do I feel like it was."

"Dunno. Just tired, I guess."

"This isn't tired. This is…guilt."

"Ain't nothin' ta' feel guilty 'bout. 'S like Shane said. It's either us 'r them."

"Why do I feel like we burned people alive? Why do _I _feel like the monster?"

"They weren't alive. _You_ know that."

"I know. I know that. I know we would have gotten them eventually, hopefully before some of us were bitten, but Jesus, Daryl, there so many of them in that pit."

"All tha' more reason. Had ta' be done." He put both hands on her shoulders. "You'll feel better after a shower 'n some dinner."

"Daryl, no, food's the last thing I want. I can still smell…" she sighed heavily. She turned her head away from his face. "Ok. Shower." she said, standing up and exiting the room quickly.

_A/N: ok, y'all still with me? Please, don't even think about trying any of that stuff at home. Seriously. I don't think Homeland Security sees zombies as a threat (yet) and I'm pretty sure they would NOT be amused. So, just go watch "Chupacabra" for the forty-eleventh time. You know you wanna…_


	7. Chapter 7

**Shall we do the disclaimer thing? Awww-you know I don't own the TWD or anything related 'cept mah OC's...**

**Did I lose you all after that last chapter? Gruesome, wasn't it? Well, it can't be all bunnies and lollipops for our gang of merry survivors...  
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**Chapter 7**

Aliya scrubbed until her skin was red, trying to remove every inch of dirt and molecule of scent still left on her from the day's work. She told herself that everything was going to go down the drain, along with the grit and stink. All the guilt. The fear. The sadness. She washed her hair carefully and shaved everything, taking as long as she could under the hot water. Her face was tender but the water felt good everywhere else.

Aliya changed into the loose cargo pants and thin sweater that Bridgette had found for Daryl. She towel-dried her hair, leaving it damp, and went back to Daryl's room, knocking on the door softly, grateful for the bath and shower in the basement. She didn't feel like much talking to anybody right now, especially not about what they'd done earlier that day. She opened the door slowly and found him sitting on the couch, sipping from the bottle.

She sat down next to him and he handed her the bottle. He thought to himself that she smelled a whole lot better than she had, but decided it was best to keep it to himself. Somehow, "Hey, you don't smell like burnt, rotting flesh anymore" was not something she needed to hear right now. Wasn't really anything anybody ever _needed _to hear, come to think of it. Aliya took the bottle and chugged down a good long drink and handed it back to him, growling as the alcohol burned her throat.

He looked at her and sat it on the other side of him. "Prob'ly not a good idea on an empty stomach."

Daryl looked at her as she sat there silently. Her hair was damp and curly, falling down her back and over her shoulders. She wasn't wearing any makeup, not that she wore much to begin with. A long fringe of dark lashes surrounded her dark green eyes. Those eyes. Pretty much the first thing he'd noticed on her, really _noticed_. Sad eyes, knowing eyes, eyes that by now he could read at a glance. Daryl's own eyes moved down to the thin navy blue sweater she was wearing. The way it hugged her body here and…_there._ The way the pants had fit loosely, showing off a little skin between the top of the waist and the bottom of her sweater as she had turned around to close the door when she came in. Stop it, Dixon.

Daryl knew that he was in dangerous territory now. Ever since Christmas he'd allowed himself to play a game of "what if." Ever since she'd said what she did about caring for him. He wondered if she meant anything more than she'd said. He didn't have the least bit of evidence that Aliya considered him anything more than a friend. Not when they'd been drunk, not on the occasions that they'd spent the night in the same room, not even at Christmas when the emotions were running pretty high, did they ever even so much as exchange a friendly kiss. He gave himself a swift mental kick. No, this isn't any different, he told himself. Stop torturing yourself. She's your friend. That's _all_. But he didn't think he was going to be satisfied with that much longer.

"Nope." she shook her head. "Prol'ly not. Getting' drunk is not what I need to do tonight."

"Nope." he mimicked her. "Prol'ly not."

She grimaced at him, screwing up the corner of her mouth a bit. "What I need is to go back to my own room and get some sleep."

Daryl nodded his head. "Good idea."

Aliya stood up and walked towards the door. She turned as she put her hand on the knob. "Thanks." she said softly, looking at him.

"For what?"

"Just thanks."

XXXXX

Aliya laid in bed, the room to herself. She didn't know where Bridgette was and frankly, she didn't give a rat's ass. Hopefully she was somewhere that would keep her occupied. All night long occupied. Aliya had been tossing and turning for hours. She rolled over to her side, the tears streaming down. She was as uncomfortable with crying as she was with not knowing why exactly she was still crying. Guilt? Collective loss for so many people-the people that were now ashes in the bottom of a pit? Realization that the world really had gone to shit and we, meaning she and the rest of the survivors, may not be at the top of the food chain anymore? Realization that it was her big idea to corral them into a pit and set them on fire?

She told herself all the things that Shane and Daryl had said trying to convince the others to do it in the first places. All the excuses. It was us versus them. We'd just be doing it one by one anyway. They're dead already. Now they won't be able to hurt one of us. She thought about Carl. Sweet, funny, all-seeing Carl who didn't miss a thing and was becoming his own young man. She thought about how she'd feel if one of them had managed to bite him and she started to cry harder. It was the right thing to do. Walkers were massing lately. Gathering together in herds. More difficult to deal with in larger numbers. It had to be done. But the logic didn't make it any easier to forget the smell. Or the idea that deep down, she was a monster. Just like the her Daddy. A killer. She just killed…walkers.

Aliya rolled to her other side and put a pillow over her head. It smelled, clean, crisp, like fresh air. She breathed deeply and began to choke, partly on her own tears, partly on a feint wisp of acrid, foul-smelling smoke that came from deep within her lungs. She thought about her family now. They were spared all this. A blessing in disguise, Momma would have said. It was. Their world had already gone to shit, long before the virus had ever started to mutate, spread, and envelop the whole world. They were all long gone. Aliya was alone then. She was alone now. She closed her eyes and sobbed into the pillow, holding it tight to muffle the sounds. She was fucking tired of being alone.

XXXXX

Daryl woke with a start when he heard the door open and close quietly. It was well after two in the morning and the whole house was quiet. He was aware of someone in the room with him, standing near the door. He could smell the clean scent of deodorant soap. "All?" he said in a whisper. He heard her draw in a breath. "What's wrong?" He sat up quietly.

She didn't move. "Can…" Long silence. "Can I sleep in here tonight?" she whispered, her voice cracking. Daryl swung his legs off the bed and stood up, reaching for the switch on the battery-operated lantern on the table next to the bed. He could see her, her back against the door, a blanket over her arm. Her hair was down and messy against the front of her large men's button-down shirt. She was looking down at the floor and he could see in the dim light that she was chewing on her bottom lip, eyes shiny.

Aliya kept looking down until Daryl was standing right in front of her. She slowly moved her eyes up his frame, noticing that he was wearing nothing but a pair of knit boxers slung low. She could see the scar near his hip where the arrow had come out from the back, a through-and-through wound, through the front and back, the same bolt from his crossbow. She could also see a tattooed name over his heart. She eyes worked her way up to his and she unconsciously held her breath, still biting her lip.

She dropped the blanket as Daryl reached out his hands and pulled her to him suddenly, forcefully. His hands moved to her back, pressing her against him, moving through her hair. Aliya had her hands on his chest and closed her eyes. "I don't want to be alone tonight." she whispered.

Daryl didn't answer with words. Everything he told himself earlier about being friends had gotten covered up in the depths of his brain by a great big yellow Caterpillar backhoe burying his common sense. He moved his hands down and wrapped his arms around her waist, picking her straight up as her arms wrapped around his shoulders. He held her in mid air for a second, eye level now, and studied her face. It was still flushed from the heat of the fire, soft, glowing pink across her cheeks and nose. Her eyes were dark like coals, the little bed-side lamp a tiny speck of light reflected in her pupils.

Aliya opened her mouth slightly and Daryl moved his lips to hers, stopping a millimeter before touching them with his. He could feel their warmth, feel her breath escaping from between them. He brushed them lightly with his, feeling their softness, a tiny whimper from her told him what he wanted to hear, what he _needed _to hear. He walked them backwards, still holding her up tightly, until he reached the couch, and sat her down as he did, pulling her on to him.

Daryl's hands moved to her ribs, pulling her to him like a rag doll. He kissed her hard, his mouth covering hers, half-holding his breath. He stopped and pulled back, looking at her, moving the long strands of hair out of her eyes with his hands. He was suddenly aware that all that was between them was his ragged boxers and some dead guy's business shirt that she'd been sleeping in. He was also aware the smoothness of her legs against his and the warmth of her hands on him.

"No." he said, sharply.

"What?" she said breathlessly.

"No. Not like this." he said, shaking his head. "Yer' upset. You been cryin' all night. Ain't right." He loosened his grip on her waist, but didn't let go totally. She was still sitting on his lap, her legs bent underneath her, her hands on his chest. Daryl was now painfully aware that certain parts of him could contradict what he'd just said, if he were not careful.

"You don't want to?" Aliya was baffled. Between the door and the couch, something happened and she had no idea what.

"Not like this. Feel like I was takin' advantage."

"So…" Aliya looked at him, her eyes wide. "I'm really confused. I thought at the door, we…" she dropped her hands and folded them nervously, "You don't want me?"

"Din't say that." Daryl took her chin in his hand. "I want _you_. This ain't you t'night."

Aliya climbed off of him and moved to the end of the couch. "Wow." she sighed. She put her hand to her mouth and leaned on the arm of the couch.

"Lookit, I didn't say I didn't want ya'. I just don't want there ta' be any…regrets." he sighed. "I don't need the 'I made a mistake, we just need ta' be friends' speech tomorrow morning'." He moved to the end of the couch with her. "I'd rather not do it. Ever. Not if it's gonna' change things 'tween us." he said quietly.

She closed her eyes, turning her head away from him and nodding. She let out a ragged sigh and said "You're right." He could see her breathing slowly, deep measured breaths, trying to maintain her composure. Aliya was letting it all settle in. After a couple minutes, she took a deep breath. "I never in a million years thought…" Daryl cut her off mid-sentence.

"What, ya' never thought I'd have a conscience?" he said, his voice tense.

"No, stupid, I never thought I'd be glad a guy turned me down." she said flatly. She looked at him blankly, waiting for his response.

Daryl shrugged and rubbed his upper arm with his other hand, looking down at his feet. "Din't exactly turn ya down." he grinned. "More like, asked for a rain check. Yer' still sleepin' here t'night."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." he said. "N' I still get ta' kiss ya." Daryl moved quickly down the couch to her and pulling her on his lap once more.

"Nope. You don't get to do that now." she grinned, tracing her fingers over the tattoo on his chest. Daryl became embarrassingly aware of every scar and mark on himself. He also became embarrassing aware once more of what little there was actually between them still.

"Now yer' just bein' a fuckin' tease." he said, burying his face in her neck. He laid a slow, lasting kiss on her carotid, feeling her pulse on his lips. Her heart was beating fast. Aliya dipped her head and rolled her shoulder, letting out a uncharacteristic little giggle.

"Nuh-huh. _I'm _not the one who put the brakes on." she said quietly. She book his face between her hands and stared into his blue eyes, dark in the dim light of the tiny lamp. "We don't _need _to rush this, do we." Aliya sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than Daryl.

"No." he said.

"No." she repeated. "So I should let you put some pants on, huh?"

"Definitely." he said, Aliya still holding his face. She looked at him and drew her mouth to the side in a little smirk, nodding her head slowly, slightly.

She removed her hands and climbed off him, moving to the other side and turned her back to him.

"Ok, I can't see nothin'."

"Seein' weren't tha' problem." Daryl snorted as he walked to the end of the bed and sat down facing her, pulling on a pair of loose fatigues and a sleeveless t-shirt. He walked back over to her and kicked her foot lightly with his. "We good?" he asked.

Aliya looked up at Daryl from the couch. "Yeah. We still good." she nodded.

"Good. Then ya'll forgive me for _this_." Daryl said, picking her up swiftly and throwing her over his shoulder, moving to the bed and tossing her down on her back with a bounce and a squeal. He plopped down on the bed beside her and turned out the light before he turned to face her. "Now, shut up 'n let me get back ta' sleep." he said, drawing her to him, one arm over her hip, his face buried in her hair.

"Daryl?" she said a minute later.

"Shut up, woman." he said sleepily.


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you so much, all of you, for taking the time to leave a review! You're just the bestest!  
><strong>

**Chapter 8**

Aliya tossed the green plastic laundry basket on the bed and bit her tongue. Literally. She was sick of the conversation before it even started. She'd been folding and putting away clothes and thinking about Daryl. Thinking a lot about Daryl. She was enjoying having the room to herself and being able to just relax, until Bridgette came in and flopped down on her own bed.

"Allie, please. I'm dying to know. I won't tell anyone."

She looked at the girl and glared. "That's none of your damn business, Bridgette."

"Oh, come on. You've been sleeping down there off and on for two weeks now. You can't tell me you're not…_you know_." She stuck out her lower lip and pouted, an affectation that was supposed to be cute but was totally lost on Aliya. "Pweeease." she whined. "Tell me. What's Daryl like, you know, in the sack?"

"You're incredible. Really. Do you have any clue how badly you're pissing me off right now?" Aliya said quietly. "You need to stop asking. It's between me and Daryl and I think too much of him to even be having this conversation with you."

"You can tell me. I swear I won't tell a soul. We're roommates. Roommates talk about stuff like this."

"We're not roommates, Bridgette. We occasionally sleep in the same room. That's it. That is the extent of our relationship. I wouldn't even call us friends because you obviously don't respect my privacy or care about my feelings. Now drop it."

"I…I'm, Allie please. I didn't mean to make you mad." Bridgette sputtered.

"Then you should have shut up the first time I told you to mind your own damn business." Aliya snapped. She moved to the window and looked out over the front of the house, everything laid out in front of her. She could see the yard, the woods surrounding the subdivision, the drive and even a bit of the road. She loved the view. But she was growing weary of the company.

Aliya moved back across the room quietly, exiting without saying a word or even looking at the other woman sitting on the hastily-made bed. It was mid-afternoon. Daryl would be back from hunting soon. She couldn't wait. She moved downstairs swiftly, grabbing her Glock and a clip out of the cabinet in the kitchen and walked out the back door.

XXXXX

Aliya climbed the fence as carefully and as quietly as she could. She kept her eyes peeled for the owner of the black pick-up truck that was now parked within inches of the front gate. It had appeared between the time she last looked out the bedroom window and the time she made her way downstairs and wandered through the yard to the front. The top of the truck was still warm to the touch, which told her it hadn't been there long.

The windows were rolled down in the truck and there were beer cans and candy bar wrappers littering the seat and floorboards on the passenger side. For a fairly new truck, it was disgustingly dirty inside and it smelled. B.o. and stale beer and cigarettes. Just like her dad's party cabin after the guys that worked for him had been there all weekend. She circled the truck slowly and looked around for walkers, peering under the truck, just in case. She opened the driver's door and leaned in to inspect the black satchel in the seat, thinking instantly that this was stupid of her, she had left herself pretty vulnerable with her back turned to the road. But it was too late.

The man walked up behind her without making a sound and stood up straight, pointing the .44 at her. Aliya heard a twig snap and started to turn around but felt something cold and hard in the small of her back.

"Mmmm mmmm mmmmm." the voice growled. "I ain't seen nothin' that good-lookin' in weeks. 'N I ain't talking about that plastic piece of shit in yer hand, neither, Sweet Cheeks. Pass it behind ya' 'n put yer' hands up."

"Fuck you, Asshole."

"Aww, now that ain't no way ta' talk ta' company, is it? Not very neighborly, no sir. Yer' hurtin' my feelins' Darlin'."

"I'm gonna hurt more than that in a minute. Who are you? What the fuck do you want?"

"Oh, Babydoll, I want a lotta' shit," he licked his dry lips, "'n you're sure as hell gonna give it to me." He put the gun to her head. "Come on away from there and stay turned around." Aliya took a backwards step towards him, keeping her hands up. "That's it…nice 'n slow-like." She felt his gun on her back again as he knocked hers from her hand and kicked it under the truck. He traced the barrel of his gun down her back slowly and continued to her waist, down her ass and between her legs. He made a low, lecherous whistle. "Damn, Red, we gonna' have us some fun."

"You're a dead man." she said quietly.

"Ooohhhh, I'm 'skeered." he said mockingly. "What's yer' name, Tough Girl."

"You first."

He poked her hard in the back with the gun. "I asked ya' yer' name, damn it!" he spit. "Fuckin' answer me."

"Aliya."

"Mmmm. ALL-ee-yaaaah. That's a real purty name fer' a real purty girl. All-a'-ya' Who lives in them houses?"

"Just about forty of us."

"Don't you fuckin' lie ta' me. I been watching this place all day."

"Who's lying now? If you've been watching, then you should know."

The man poked her roughly with the gun. "Said how many, bitch?"

"Less than 20."

"Weapons?"

"Of course."

"You the one been writing all over?"

"What?" Aliya tried to turn her head to get a good look at him but he poked her again hard in the back.

"Nope. You keep that pretty lil' head a' yers' turned for now. Who's this Dixon on the mailbox?"

"Former owners." she lied. She'd written "D. Dixon" in big black letters on the mail box one afternoon when she and Daryl were horsing around outside with Carl. Daryl thought it was funny that his name would be outside a house like that. He said that if Merle ever did show up, he wouldn't stop because he would know it was a joke.

The man put the gun to the side of her neck. "You best stop fuckin' 'round, Sugar Tits. I'm in no mood. I asked ya' a question."

"A guy in our group."

"Well, fuck me six ways from Sunday. He been leaving those directions?"

"No."

"Who has?"

"Me."

The man eased up on the gun a bit and started laughing, a whisky-rough giggle of sorts. "Well, Honey, how's come _yer' _a_-_lookin' for me when my own brother ain't?"

"Merle?" Aliya spit out. "Merle Dixon?" She turned and faced him, hands still up. "What the fuck, Merle?" She looked at his right arm. He'd been hiding it, keeping her back turned to him, to keep her from seeing him. If she would have seen it from the start, she would have know he was Merle in an instant. Especially if she'd been able to look at his steely blue eyes. His arm, however, was a bit of a surprise. He had a prosthetic hand. An African-American prosthetic hand.

Merle was the same height as his younger brother, and had the same general build but carried a bit more weight, with a jaw that was more square and a higher forehead. His head and face both had about a week's worth of stubble, dirty blonde-brown tinged with gray. He was handsome in a really rough, rugged way. He looked different from Daryl, though. Harder. Meaner. Aliya almost laughed, however, when she looked at what he was wearing. Or more precisely, wasn't he wasn't wearing. Merle had on a pair of faded, worn jeans, square-toed motorcycle boots and a black leather vest, buttoned all the way up, with no shirt underneath. Huge muscled arms, just like Daryl. Jesus, she thought, what the fuck is it with the Dixon men and sleeves?

The man was grinning, a leering, evil grin, when the familiar voice behind him echoed Aliya's question. "Yeah, Merle, what tha' fuck?"

Merle turned around slowly, surprised. He looked at Daryl, who had his crossbow trained on him. "Boy, I _know _you don't have that thing pointed at _me_, now." The grin had turned into a hard stare. The two men stood there, barrel and crossbow leveled, looking at each other for a minute until Daryl spoke again.

"You bit?" Daryl said through clenched teeth.

"Hell no, but Lil' Miss Fine-Ass here can change that any time she wants." Merle said, turning his head around to Aliya. "Ain't that right, Sweetheart?"

"Screw you, Merle." she said.

"Baby, any time." he said "You just say tha' word. Hell, you don't have to say anything 't all! Just scream my name nice 'n loud when ya' cu-"

"Shut up, Merle." Daryl interrupted, glaring at his brother.

"Whassa' matter, Baby Brother? Hit a nerve?" he sneered. "Aww, don't tell me you' ain't laid pipe ta' this 'n yet." He turned around and looked at Aliya again. "Oh, no, Darlin', we just can't have that." he said in a syrupy-sweet voice. "We gotta' get ya' a _real _man, not this sorry piece of shit."

"Shut _up_, Merle." Daryl hissed again. He still had his crossbow raised and pointed at the older man.

"Put that fuckin' weapon down, son." Merle said, taking a step closer to Daryl. "I ought ta' be shootin' _you _for leavin' me on that fuckin' roof."

"I didn't leave ya' on tha' roof. You're tha' one who left. We went back for ya' but you was gone. Then ya' stole our truck. Why'd you not just stay there?"

"Fuckin' geeks were after me. I had at' get the hell outta there."

"That's a damn lie, Merle. That door was chained tight. I had ta' use bolt cutters on it."

"Don't tell me what you _had _ta' do, Dickweed. I _had _ta' cut off my own hand. I _had _ta' do a lotta' shit ta' make it outta' there. Where tha' hell have _you _been? Lemme see now, holed up in some big-ass fancy house with tha' same fuckin' people what did this to me? Yeah, tell me more a' what ya' _had _ta' do, Brother."

"Fuck you, Merle. Ya' damn near got us killed takin' that truck. Ya' coulda' drove it back ta' camp, but ya' split. You're tha' one who left, Merle, not me. I looked for ya'. I looked all over for ya' ."

"Yeah, now, see, I'm thinking' that's not YOU doin' so much of a' tha' lookin' as tha' little woman over there." he said, gesturing with his head. Merle turned to Aliya again. "Missy, how come you're tha' only one who seems like they give a shit 'bout finding' ol' Merle? You figure out this pencil-dick wasn't 'nuff 'n ya' thought you'd find a better Dixon?"

It was about this point that Aliya had had enough. She could feel her face getting redder by the minute. It wasn't Merle's language that she couldn't stand, not by a long shot. He wanted verbal abuse, she could sure give it to him. No, it wasn't appreciated but that wasn't it. It was the way he was talking about Daryl…the way he was talking _to _Daryl. Accusing him of not trying to find him or not caring about him…because she knew that the one thing Daryl wanted desperately was to know that Merle was alive and ok.

Aliya stepped between the two men and pushed hard on both their chests. She didn't move either one of them, but she shoved them hard enough for them to see she was seriously pissed. "Ok, Boys, I've heard enough. Merle, you just back off. Daryl's been looking for you every chance he could get. I've been leaving the signs because I've been going into those places with the others while Daryl's out hunting and keeping all of us alive. So, just shut the fuck up. We can't change what happened. Y'all can resolve this with Rick and T-Dog and Andrea later but you ain't gonna' be tearin' _each other_ up over it. I won't have it. Now lets get the hell out of here before your little pissin' contest starts drawing walkers."

She grabbed the gun out of Merle's hand quickly and turned to Daryl. "Put that fuckin' thing away." she said. She walked back to the truck and bent down, reaching under and sweeping her hand until she found her Glock. She stood up and tucked it into the back of her waistband, walking back to them.

"Whooo weee!" Merle exclaimed, rubbing his balls over his jeans. "That sweet little piece a' ass is a hellcat, I can just tell. Baby, you 'n me gonna' have a lotta' fun, yessiree Bob!"

Aliya walked up to Merle and poked a finger in his chest. "Listen you crankhead piece of shit, you stay the fuck away from me and watch your mouth or you'll be sporting two stumps." she hissed quietly. "N' I _ain't _talking about your other hand, either." She poked him hard one last time for emphasis and turned on her heel, giving Daryl a dirty look as she walked past him towards the gate.

Daryl started to grin and took a step towards Merle, smacking him hard on the bicep. "I'd do what the fuck she said, Merle. She's about half-pissed and that right there…" Daryl pointed his finger in Aliya's direction, "...that's Duke Henderson's baby girl."


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N Thanks for the reviews and alerts. If you've liked this enough to alert, please do leave a review!_

**Chapter 9**

Please read and review…

Daryl opened the bottle of beer and sat it in front of Merle. "Gotta ask." he said, trying not to smile at the irony. Merle wasn't even trying to hide the fact that his forearm didn't exactly match the hand.

"Fuck you. Ain't funny."

"Yeah, it is." Daryl said. "Where tha' hell did ya' get it?"

"V.A." Merle shrugged. "Found it at the V.A."

"Found?" Daryl was skeptical. He knew better. He knew his brother too well. "What dead guy did 'ya steal it off a'?"

"They 'r all fuckin' dead. Every last one of 'em what weren't walkers. I just took advantage a' what was right in front a' me." Merle frowned. "Not like he was gonna' fuckin' use it no more."

"There weren't one dead _white _guy there with a fake hand?" Daryl said, the corner of his mouth twitching. Daryl was seriously having a hard time not busting out laughing. His brother. Poster boy for white supremacy, with a black hand. It was just almost too much for Daryl. Hell had indeed frozen over.

"No. You think I'd have this God-damned piece of shit if 're were?" Merle said, scowling, raising the dark latex-covered hand in front of him. "Jesus _Christ_."

"Karma." Daryl smiled. "That's just karma, man."

"Fuck that shit." the big man hissed. 'N' fuck you, too." He drained the bottle of warm beer and sat it down. "What tha' fuck 're ya' doin' with Duke Henderson's kid?"

Daryl took a long drink from his beer and shrugged. "Nothin'."

"Bull SHIT." he said. "You 'n her…" he made a vulgar gesture with his good hand and the finger of his prosthetic.

"S' none a' yer' business, Merle." Daryl said flatly, glaring at his older brother.

He guffawed a bit and grinned. "That means ya' ain't screwin' her."

"Fuck you, Merle."

"Aww, how come, little man? She just wanna' be friends? You not her type?"

"Ain't like that.

"Oh, I get it. Yer' takin' it sloooow." Merle drew out the word intentionally to push his younger brother's buttons. It worked. "Meanwhile, she's givin' it up to somebody else 'round here behind your back, ain't' that right?"

"No. She ain't."

"Ya' know that fer' a fact?"

"Yeah. That's a fact." Daryl said, his teeth clenched.

"Well well." Merle said, putting a bottle of cheap whiskey between his legs and twisting off the cap with his one hand. He took a long gulp and returned the bottle, leaving the cap off. There was a long silence. Merle nodded slowly. "She shooore looks like her Daddy." he said sighed. "Good man, that one. Too fuckin' bad what happened."

Daryl and Merle continued to suck down the beers on the front porch while the discussion inside continued. By the time it was over, they'd drank a case and a half of beer between the two, Merle consuming the lion's share. Daryl was considerably under the influence, as well. He was having a lot of mixed emotions. He was mainly confused. He knew that he was glad that Merle was back, thankful he was safe, feeling guilty for not looking hard enough for him, and worried about what would happen now that he was back. Daryl didn't like it when he was confused.

XXXXX

The tone of the entire discussion was tense. Actually it was past tense and moving toward vicious. Aliya knew what she was up against. She knew Merle's type. Mean, violent, addicted, self-centered, a guy who just doesn't give a damn about anything other than his own wants and needs. Throw in a pretty good oxy habit, some speed and lots of liquor and you have a guy who was, well, somebody you just don't want to be around. She as running smack-dab into that very fact right now.

Aliya was dumbfounded at the anger and resentment that the group had for Merle. She tried to remain calm and rational. She had to, for Daryl's sake. Merle had to be allowed to stay. She could work on him later, but for now, she just had to get them to agree to let him stay.

Andrea was the worst one of the bunch. Shane wasn't much better. Rick was being his usual calm, rational self, but Lori was having her moments as well. They all took turns badmouthing Merle, saying what an awful person he was, how he was a bigot, a drug abuser, a criminal. They made Merle out to be every bad person ever invented, which was why Aliya was grateful when Stuart spoke up and asked the question that she hadn't been able yet to get in edgewise.

"So just what the hell did this guy do, rape somebody? Is he a killer? Convict? Child molester? What? What _exactly _did he do while he was in camp?"

"Merle does not think about his actions or their effects upon others." Rick said.

"Merle is not alone in that category." Aliya spoke up, shaking her head at Rick. She was starting to get just plain pissed now. "You've all done stupid stuff. Andrea, do I really have to remind you, you _shot _Daryl. Rick, T-Dog, you guys left Merle on the roof…in handcuffs. Glenn, you brought a car back to camp with the horn blaring, clear from downtown. Ever think that's what brought those walkers swarming? Lori, you sent Glenn and that Maggie-girl into town for your own stuff. Maggie almost got bit because you needed what, shampoo? Shane, you busted open the door to the barn-full of walkers and risked everyone's lives. Everybody here is guilty of doing something irresponsible or dangerous. You have no right to judge." she tried to reason with them.

"Aliya, you don't know how he is." Glenn spoke up. "He's mean. He's dangerous and violent. He's a racist, plus, he treats women like…dirt."

"Really? Did Merle ever hit anybody? Ever lay his hands on any of the women?" Aliya said. She turned to Carol. "He ever leave _bruises _on anybody?" She knew she was pushing buttons and probably making enemies, but she didn't care anymore. Her allegiance was to Daryl and therefore to Merle. She was more like them than the others.

"Look, Aliya, we know you're close to Daryl, but you weren't _there_. You don't know what it was like with Merle around." Dale said calmly. "He was not nice to have to deal with."

"Keep Daryl out of this. This is just human decency. You all are a bunch of hypocrites. I get that he's rude and crude and loud. I know he's going to say off-color shit and make you uncomfortable. That's his deal. I know that he's going to say stuff about Blacks and Asians and Jews and Hispanics and every other race, creed or color. So what? He's one guy with some stupid ideas and opinions. Grow the fuck up, you guys. I think you can handle it. He's got an ugly mind, I get that. He's gonna' cuss and holler and fight. He's gonna' drink. He's gonna' do drugs if he can get 'em. But he's also gonna' be another _man _around here. Another brain with ideas and skills and experience. Another set of eyes and ears. Another weapon." Aliya felt like a lawyer giving a closing argument at a trial and she of all people, hated attorneys with a passion.

"He can't stay." Lori said firmly. "We don't want him here. He's too dangerous. I don't want that man anywhere near Carl."

"Really, Lori? You really wanna' go there?" Aliya said, looking at Shane now, on purpose, letting Lori she knew. "Did _Merle _ever touch you?" Shane's eyes burned into her but he kept quiet.

"No, but that doesn't mean he won't." Bridgette said, adding her two cents.

Aliya pointed her finger at Bridgette. "_You _need to be quiet. You've never even met him and you're just parroting crap you've heard around the campfire." Aliya snapped.

Stuart spoke up and tried to defend Bridgette. "Aliya, you don't have to be so mean. Why do you care about Merle anyway…I mean, aside from the obvious."

"What would the obvious be, Stuart? What are you getting at?" Aliya turned towards him.

"It means we all know that Daryl sent you here to plead Merle's case. He's using you to do his dirty work." Andrea sneered.

"Daryl did not send me here. In fact, he's a little pissed that I am. Until Christmas he didn't even know I was trying to find Merle, so just keep your theories to yourself, Andrea. You don't have a clue what you're talking about." Aliya looked around the table, making eye contact with every single person. "Look, Merle has every right to be here. As much as any of you. You guys left him to die. But he didn't. He cut off his own hand to survive. He made it out of the building and lasted out there. With one hand. On his own. For weeks. You didn't even have the decency to leave him with so much as a bottle of water. You all _owe _him this."

"I…I just don't know," Rick said, "He's got a score to settle now. He'll be more dangerous than ever."

"And who do you have to thank for _that_, Rick?" Aliya slammed her palm on the table. "You guys can live with yourselves if you just turn him out? You gonna sleep good tonight knowing he's back out there?"

"I will." Andrea said. "Better out there than in here."

"You have no fuckin' clue what's sleeping in here with you, Andrea." Aliya looked at her, here green eyes now dead with loathing. "Merle's staying. I'll make sure he behaves. If nothing else, he can stay in one of the other houses. But he's staying as long as he wants."

Aliya rose and Shane rose with her. "You and that brother of his better keep him on a short leash, Aliya." he said. "People won't have more of his shit, I guarantee."

"Maybe it's your own shit you better contain, Shane." she said over her shoulder, as she walked out the door, slamming it behind her.

XXXXX

Aliya laid on her bed, listening to the sounds in the house. It was quiet, very quiet. Bridgette was sleeping with Andrea and Carol, saying that she was "too scared" with Merle now in the house to sleep by herself and took great joy in making it known that Aliya was spending a lot of time lately in Daryl's room. Aliya had gone to tell Merle and Daryl how the meeting had gone. By this time, they were in Daryl's room downstairs. Aliya spent about an hour, there, with the high point being Merle passing out on the couch. Merle was his typical self, argumentative, rude and crude, but she could see a definite change in his attitude from the moment she opened the door. She couldn't put her finger on it but he was acting a bit differently.

Daryl was very quiet. She could tell from his demeanor that he didn't want any company. He had a lot to think about and Aliya knew that when he had thinking to do, Daryl didn't want anybody around. She said goodnight quickly and went upstairs to her room, ignoring the looks from everyone else who was still hanging out in the kitchen, discussing things. She was drained, emotionally drained, and fell asleep quickly.

A couple hours later, Aliya woke to feel the covers being drawn off her. "What the hell?" she said sleepily, rolling over as she sat up. A pair of lips met hers, rough, hot, tasting of cigarettes and beer, as hands held her shoulders tight. She knew immediately who it was and what was happening…and she was damn ready.

"Daryl."

"No more." he said in a hoarse voice. "No more waitin'."

"Daryl, you're drunk. You sure you wanna do this?" Aliya said, forcing herself to pull away. But he didn't answer. Instead, Aliya found herself on her back, with Daryl kissing the side of her neck, his hands moving to the hem of her t-shirt, pulling it up slowly. "Aww, Jesus." she moaned as he alternated from between kissing her neck and running his tongue back and forth on it slowly.

Daryl was trying to take his time now and it was killing him. He'd had too much beer, too much of everything today. His mind was racing. He needed the one thing he knew would bring him peace and calm him down. He needed her. He needed to feel her under him, to touch her, to finally make love to her. Now here she was and he had to force himself to stay in control.

Daryl moved from her neck to the exposed skin on her stomach, kissing here. There. Dragging his lips across the smooth skin. Connecting kisses with his tongue as she ran her fingers through his hair. He pulled the t-shirt off and tossed it aside, moving to her breasts, kissing them slowly, rolling her nipples on one side between his fingers and with his tongue on the other as Aliya moaned and started to breath faster.

He moved to her mouth again, kissing her roughly, his tongue moving on hers, slowly at first, then with more urgency. Daryl moved quickly to pull off her underwear and toss it aside. Aliya's hand moved to his waist and popped the button on his worn pants. Her hand moved to the zipper and slowly lowered it as she returned his kisses, their tongues moving together. Her hand moved inside and Daryl growled as she slowly slid her fingers down the length of him. He had to hold his breath to keep from exploding as Aliya's hand moved gently, soft and warm against him. He could feel himself starting to stiffen even more and removed her hand quickly and sat back, shimmying out of his pants awkwardly, kicking them off to the foot of the bed.

He returned to her, holding his weight off her with his forearms and kissed her once more, lowering himself slowly to her, pressing against her thigh. Aliya moved slightly and met him, allowing him to enter easily. He looked at her, her eyes closed, lips parted slightly, showing no hesitation as she began to move with him slowly. Daryl closed his eyes and allowed himself to think, really think about what they were doing. What he was feeling. How she moved against him, matching his breathing, moaning softly, her fingers playing on his chest, moving to his back, his neck.

Daryl slowly increased his speed as Aliya moved her legs up to his waist, her hands scratching the outside of his thighs lightly with her fingernails. She was quiet, so quiet he had to look at her to see if she was still alright. When he did, he saw her looking back at him, her eyes dark, burning into his steely blue eyes, on fire. She moved her hands from him to over her head and nodded slowly as Daryl raised to his knees, his hands grasping her around the hips to pull him to her.

Aliya moaned quietly and arched her back as Daryl continued to move faster, deeper. "Jesus Christ!" he hissed, exploding suddenly with enough force to send her over the edge as well, as Aliya moaned his name loudly enough for Dale and Stuart to hear next door. Daryl quickly pulled her up by the arms to his lap, still twitching inside her as they both tried to catch their breath, their legs entwined, sweat mixing together as he held her close. Neither one of them said anything as they sat there together, Aliya drawing small circles and scrolls with her fingertips on the damp skin of Daryl's back while Daryl's hands moved through her tousled hair and stroked her back.

Daryl moved to lay them down, side by side, legs still wrapped around each other. "Cold?"

"No. You?"

"Not after that." he smiled.

"That was sure worth the wait." Aliya grinned.

"Shit yes." Daryl growled as he pulled her closer and kissed her forehead, closing his eyes. For the first time in months, Daryl slept peacefully.


	10. Chapter 10

_Please review. _

Chapter 10

Aliya sat the plate of biscuits and eggs in front of Merle. He looked like hell, bloodshot eyes rimmed by dark circles, sallow complexion, grimacing from the worst beer hangover he'd had in years. She reached into the pocket of her sweatshirt and plopped a bottle of aspirin down on the table. "I'm sure you're used to much stronger, but this is it around here." she said quietly. "Eat up."

Merle grunted and tossed a hand-full of the small white pills into this mouth, washing them down with the still-steaming black coffee Aliya had sat in front of him earlier. He eyed the auburn-haired woman with a good amount of suspicion.

"Why you being so nice ta' me?" he grumbled.

"Because you're Daryl's brother." she shrugged, sitting down.

"I noticed he weren't here when I woke up this morning." the large man smirked.

"No. He wasn't." she said. "He's gone into town to get you some clothes. He'll be back in a couple hours."

"He told me how y'all cleaned out the town." he said, stuffing half a biscuit in his mouth.

"Yeah. We didn't get 'em all, but most of them, at least. Evens the odds when we do need to get supplies." she nodded.

"He said that it was yer' idea." he said, still chewing on the biscuit, crumbs now on the front of his t-shirt.

"Guess so. No big deal, just common sense."

"Well, now, Missy, what's common sense ta' _you _may be a lil' bit diff'rent from most folks." he smiled.

"What're you gettin' at, Merle?" she looked at him and cocked her head sideways, sitting down opposite him with her own cup of coffee.

"I knew yer' Daddy." he said, almost beaming.

"Daryl. Dammit, he told freakin' told you."

"Now don't be gettin' pissed off at him. I woulda' figured it out sooner 'r later. Hell, ya' look just like yer' old man."

"Should I even _ask _how you knew him?"

"Business." he said firmly.

"Powdered, liquid, dried?" she grinned. "Or were you more into hardware?"

"All of the above." Merle gave a deep belly laugh. "I 'member ya'. You were just a little shit, long red hair bouncin' all over, taggin' along after yer' Daddy, watchin' everything going on like ya' were tryin' ta' learn tha' business. Hell, ya' couldn't a' been more than ten or eleven."

"Like father like daughter." she smiled wistfully, rolling her eyes.

"S' damn shame what happened." he said, taking a long gulp of coffee. "Fuckin' snitch, had to be. Wish I coulda' been there when it went down."

"What's done is done." Aliya said grimly. "We need to talk about the future, not about the past, Merle."

"Suppose so." he said. "What'cha' got on yer' mind? Aside from porkin' my lil' brother, that is."

"Shut it, Merle." she said. "If you're going to stay here, you gotta' behave."

"Aw, Baby, I always behave." he grinned from behind the coffee cup.

"I'm serious, Merle. No drugs. No fights. Stay away from the women. Help out with shit. Keep your mouth shut."

"That's all?"

"Merle, I'm serious. They didn't even want you to stay the night last night. You were such a pain in the ass before...you know...they don't want you around. You fuck up and Daryl's gone too."

"Good, we should _both _be gone. We don't owe those assholes nothin'. 'N fact, I gotta' score ta' settle wi' a couple of 'em anyhow. Fuckin' leave me on a roof...ta' die. Fuck them!" Merle was almost shouting now.

"Look, Merle. This ain't all their fault and you know it. You _know _you were fucked up big-time that morning and you were attracting attention to the whole group by shootin' walkers from that roof, not to mention wasting ammo. What you were doing was outta' control and they _had _to stop you. I don't particularly like what they did and they're not feeling good about it now either, but it's all over. They went back for you the next day. You _know _they did because _you _took their van. That's twice you put them in danger - and that time your own brother was with them. Ever stop to think of that? You put Daryl in danger? Your _own _brother."

"They fuckin' left me to die on that roof. Look at what the did to me." he said, taking the prosthetic hand off and waving the scarred stump at her. "Look what they did." he said, his voice cracking "My own fuckin' brother din't even help me."

"No Merle, _you _did that. You didn't have to. That door was chained. Daryl told me that they had to take the bolt cutters to it. Those walkers weren't gonna' get through there. You coulda' shut up and they wouldn't have even known you were up there." Aliya argued. "You made a bad choice because you weren't in your right mind. If you hadn't been high, maybe things would have turned out different. You gotta' get your head on straight, Merle Dixon. Things aren't like they used to be. You can't _get _fucked up all the time anymore - no one can. We all gotta' have our wits about us _all _the time now. Or we _die_. Plain and simple."

Merle was quiet. He just sat there fuming, his face getting redder by the minute. He didn't look at Aliya at all. She hated to make him mad right off the bat, but she had to say it. She had to lay it all out, right in front of him. She wasn't going to back down on this, she was going to call him on every little thing. She was a little bit nervous that he was not saying anything now, but she was hopeful that maybe, just maybe, a little of what she'd said would start to sink in that thick skull of his.

"Merle, your brother loves you. God knows why, but he does. He needs you. By default, that makes you important to me, too. So, please don't fuck this up. Ok? Please? Just, be cool and try to get along with everybody. You don't have to like them. Hell, _I_ don't like most of them. But we have to work together to survive. We _have _to get along. You understand?"

"Those assholes owe me. They fuckin' owe me, Aliya."

"I know. I'd feel the same way. And maybe one day you can pay them back. But right now, you can't. I will do my best to keep them away from you, but you gotta' promise me you're gonna' try too."

"I'm gonna' pay 'em back for damn sure, Missy."

"But not now. Merle. I swear. You do something stupid, you do something to fuck this up and I'll put a bullet through that thick skull of yours myself...and you of all people know I was raised not to be 'fraid to do it."

"You wouldn't dare. 'Cause a' Daryl." Merle looked at her stone-faced. "You couldn't risk losin' him." He could not believe she was threatening him. What fuckin' balls this girl had!

"Daryl would never know." she said quietly, turning her head aside slowly and taking a slow sip of coffee, her voice cold, unemotional.

It was at that point Merle Dixon realized Aliya Henderson really was her father's daughter.

XXXX

Aliya had been running interference for Merle and Daryl for a couple weeks. Merle refused to eat with the group, so the three ate after the rest of the group was finished or sometimes they ate in Daryl's room. Merle had been on his best behavior and both Aliya and Daryl were just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Merle had been good. Too good...and they were starting to worry.

Daryl flopped down on Aliya's bed. Bridgette was in and out, depending on her mood and when she was sleeping elsewhere, Daryl stayed with Aliya.

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Tomorrow. I think Rick said it's about 30 miles, all highway. Hopefully it won't be clogged too much. I hate that." she said, kneeling to untie Daryl's boots which were hanging over the edge. She pulled them off one by one and tossed them aside, running her hands up and down his shins slowly. "We need a big train. With a cow-catcher on it to move them cars outta' the way!" she laughed. She cllimbed up on the bed aid down next to him and wrinkled her nose.

"Ya' be careful tomorrow." Daryl said seriously. "Don't like it when yer' in town without me."

"I'll be fine. Besides, Merle's going. He'll have my back."

"He'd prob'ly like ta' have yer' back n' yer front n' everythin' in-between, too." Daryl shook his head.

"Naw, he's got a thing for 'idgette." Aliya had made a habit of dropping the "b" from her name as a private joke between she and Daryl. "You know he actually took a shower the other day?"

"No shit?" Daryl's expression changed from surprise to concern again. "I'm serious. Watch him. Keep an eye on 'im." Daryl didn't have to come out and say it, Aliya knew what he was getting at. Merle would be looking for a couple things- guns and drugs - and one was just as potentially dangerous as the other.

Aliya nodded her head. "I will." she said quietly.

XXXXXX

Aliya, Merle, Glenn, T-Dog and Stuart searched cars in the small parking lot of the local airport. There were at least a hundred of them, left there by people scrambling by any means to get out of the metropolitan area and get to safety. The walker activity was average, with Rick and Shane and Andrea keeping an eye on things. Everyone had a weapon, including Merle, who had been handed a baseball bat. They were not to the point that they could trust him with firearms yet, not after the incident on the roof.

Not having a weapon pissed Merle off to no end, but he went along with it, mainly so he could go along. He knew that deep down, if he was given a weapon, somehow, either intentionally or not, he'd end up turning it on Rick Grimes. "Off-a-suh Rick Fuckin' Griiiiimes," as he said often, with a fair amount of visible spit added to his disgust. Merle was playing it cool today, though. He needed to find shit and he needed to find it as soon as possible. And by shit, he meant, anything he could get his hands on that was stronger than alcohol. At this point he didn't care if it was oxy, vicodin, speed, meth, crack, coke or even lil' Jefferey's a.d.d. meds. He needed to get fuckin' high and he needed to get fuckin' high as soon as possible. Merle needed the bullshit to go away. Just fuckin' go away. At least for a while.

In the space of a couple hours, they had searched half the cars. Food, clothing, weapons, water, drugs, anything usable was loaded into boxes on the back of a pick-up with the idea that they would all sort it later together back at the house. There wasn't a lot in the cars, these were the people who had escaped, so they decided to finish the other half of the cars and then try the small terminal. There were a fair amount of walkers inside, nothing they couldn't handle with a little coordinated effort, but they had to finish the parking lot first.

Aliya watched Merle as well as she could, given that she had her own work to do. He seemed to be doing ok. He wasn't much on women's clothes, choosing to paw through suitcases without picking out salvageable items, but he could sniff out booze like a blood-hound and he'd found several handguns in glove compartments and under seats, which the others quickly removed from his possession.

What Aliya didn't see was Merle searching the interior of the now-dusty late-model black Dodge Charger. He put his hand between the seats by the console and discovered a zip-lock bag of pills. At least three _hundred_ little pills. Merle licked his rough lips with his equally dry tongue. He looked closely, squinting that the contents of the fat plastic bag. Round. White. The number "10" on one side and "OP" on the other side. Holy fuck! This was just too good to be true. Merle squinted again, rubbed his eye with his good hand and took a second look. Sure enough. He fished under the seat and found another ziplock bag. It was full of grass. He opened it up and it smelled kinda musty. Hell, he didn't need grass. Mellow was nowhere he wanted to be lately. He checked the glove compartment and found a chrome-plated 9mm Baretta.

"Merle?" Aliya called from a couple cars over. "You find anything?"

"Just a couple melted Hershey bars, Sweet Thing." he lied as he stuffed the pills into one boot and the Baretta into the other. He had to work hard to flatten the bag out enough for it not to show, but he finally got them hidden. "Nothin' in here a' t'all' he said, beaming. Merle, you shooore is one lucky fucker, he thought to himself.

Aliya scooted around the car and walked up to him. She looked him in the eyes, searching for any indication that he'd found something, anything, without her knowing it and had taken it already. They were his usual steely-blue Merle eyes, heavily lidded, crinkly in the corners, a little blood-shot but no more so that usual. She nodded to him. "You ok?"

"Right as rain, Shadow."

"_What _did you call me?"

"Shadow." he grinned. " S'what yer' Daddy always called ya'. His little Shadow."

"Christ. Nobody's called me that in years." she swung the rifle over her shoulders and hung her hands from it. "Jesus, Merle." she said, trying to keep him from seeing how shaken she was that he'd called her by her childhood nickname. "We're about done here, I think. Let's finish this. Head inside, see what we can find."


	11. Chapter 11

_**Please read and review**. I appreciate all the alerts and favorites. As usual, I don't own any of The Walking Dead characters, just the OC's...you know the rest. _

Chapter 11

The group moved towards the double-door of the small, one-story building that served as the terminal. There were a couple small commuter planes on the tarmac, door open, their stairways down. One walker wandered around between the planes, dressed in a set of mechanic's coveralls covered with blood and gore. His neck had been bitten in two places and you could easily see tendon and muscle through chunks of dangling rotten flesh. Aliya shuddered, turning her head away briefly. She wasn't particularly afraid of single walkers, they were easily dispatched, but it was the rotting flesh and gaping wounds that made her uneasy. She'd never been good with dead bodies, big or small, and ones that rose and tried to eat her were especially not her favorite kind.

The doors to the terminal were closed, with a large iron pipe running through the handles, a crude method of barring the door to keep someone, or something, inside. None of the floor-to-ceiling windows were broken out, oddly enough, and Merle and Aliya and the others could see inside clearly. About twenty or so walkers ambled around, shuffling back and forth until they saw the group advancing towards the building. The walkers became agitated and began to gather at the windows, pressing against them, pounding, pushing.

Rick and Shane decided to try to get them to come out slowly, one or two at time, so that the others could take care of them "in a controlled manner" as Rick put it. Cop through and through, Aliya smirked. They lined up behind the vehicles they'd pulled up close to the building, with T-Dog watching for walkers from the rear. Shane put a couple rounds from his Mossberg into one of the glass doors and the walkers came spilling out. The door acted as a cattle chute of sorts. The couldn't all get out through the broken glass at the same time, but it was wide enough of a space to let one or two come through. When they got a few yards out, the group took turns taking care of them with the firearms. The fell in lumps and heaps onto the concrete walkway into the building, hazards for the group no more.

When no more walkers were visible through the terminal windows, the group advanced and Shane removed the pipe and opened the doors. The terminal was littered with debris, gore, suitcases and backpacks, clothing and computer bags. It was as if the people had vanished, leaving their belongings behind, only the brown-black pools of now-solid dried blood and the streaks and smears on the walls and floors were a reminder of the manner of death they faced.

The smell was horrific, walkers trapped in a building for weeks and months, no ventilation, wandering around, bumping into each other and just...rotting. T-Dog and Stuart began to knock out windows to allow the fresh air in. The stench was still god-awful, but at least it was a little better. More than once, Aliya had to bend over and put her head between her knees near an open window to keep from vomiting. She wasn't the only one struggling to maintain control, either.

There were more bags and cases in the terminal than they could manage to go through efficiently. Rick spotted a luggage cart outside by one of the hangars. It was not a large cart, but it would, with some creativity, fit the trailer hitch on the back of the pick-up. It was agreed that they'd pull it to the building and toss the bags into the cart and search through them in the safety of their own home. Everyone hurried to toss in every bag and suitcase and laptop they could find. There were cases of bottled water and vending machine snacks in a store-room, along with come cleaning supplies, so those were put on the cart and in the now-full truck, as well.

Aliya approached Shane and Rick, who were huddled deciding if they'd had enough or they wanted to continue to search the hangars or come back later and try to bring back some of the heavier equipment.

"Guys." she said, trying to find a break in the conversation. "What about those two planes out there?"

Rick looked up and out to the runway. "Hmm...well. I guess we got so caught up in cleaning out in here that we forgot about them."

"Suppose we ought to check them out." Shane said definitively. He looked at Aliya. "You up for it?"

"Sure. Let's go." Shane and Aliya headed out the door, with Rick calling to the others to let them know what was going on. Aliya shot a quick glance at Merle, who had two large suitcases under each arm. She was sure she saw the corner of his lip curl a bit when he realized she was going outside. She pointed to him and he grinned. It wasn't the "I know, I'll behave" grin that Aliya was hoping for and somewhere in the back of her head, the little voice told her it wasn't walkers in the planes that were going to give her trouble now.

XXXXX

Merle walked down the small corridor, watching out for the prying eyes of Rick and the others. He was heading to the bathrooms and some privacy. He pushed open the door cautiously and looked around. It opened inward, so he was wary of anything that may be still inside, his baseball bat at the ready. He couldn't risk using the handgun he'd found, no, that was his and his alone, nobody was going to find that out until it was damn well time.

The bathroom was littered with paper and glass from broken mirrors. The foul smell was almost as bad as the inside of the terminal at first. Almost. Merle maneuvered his boot off to retrieve the bag of pills, noting that some of them were crushed already, a fine white powder in the corners. He grabbed three and gulped them down. That'll do for a start, he told himself. He was thinking that it might be likely that whomever had the pills in the Charger might have left more in a bag or suitcase in the terminal or the plane. He was hoping for finding something a little more uplifting, like speed, hopefully found in the bags in the terminal. At least that way he'd have a small chance to get at it if he helped with sorting through the bags. If somebody else found them, he'd lose them it good. What a fuckin' waste, he thought to himself. I need that shit. It has to be there. Something has to be there and it fuckin' has to be...mine. His mind raced, waiting for the numb to arrive.

Merle returned to the terminal and watched out the windows, keeping his distance from the others. He eyed Rick warily, watching his every move as the thin, dark-haired man paced back and forth underneath the small plane. He heard a gun shot and quickly moved to the window for a closer look. In a second he saw Aliya pop her head out the door and give Rick the thumbs-up sign. She stuck her head back in the door and then out again, obviously in the middle of a conversation between Rick and Shane.

In a few minutes, Shane and Aliya hopped down the short stairs and moved to the other plane, stepping up and in cautiously, weapons drawn. There were no gunshots this time. After several minutes, the two descended the steps and walked slowly back into the terminal, chattering to Rick.

Rick called the group together to discuss their plans. There were lots of bags on the plane and these were the items people intended to flee with, so there would likely be medicines, etc. on board. They wanted to be able to toss the bags out and directly onto the luggage cart or into the bed of the truck, requiring them to finish in the terminal and move the cart to under next to the two planes. The men got to work on hooking up the cart to the ball-hitch on the truck while Aliya stood guard. Merle and Glenn and Stuart made one more round in the terminal, checking for anything they missed.

Within half an hour, Merle was feeling no pain. Literally. He felt the entire world downshift and he had to put his hand on one of the blood-stained couches to steady himself. "Aaahhhhh." he said in a quiet moan. "Fuckin' A." he said. It had been a while since he'd felt this way and he found himself smiling for no reason. He felt good. Really good.

Aliya walked in when they were done and wiped both hands together. Merle was standing outside, looking up at the sky. "I think we're finished here." she pronounced, walking up and standing next to him. "We need to get back home, I'm starving."

"Well, let's get ya' home, then, Darlin'." he oozed. Aliya took one look at him. His pupils were huge and glassy. He was grinning as he looked at her.

"Merle. What did you do?" she said, alarmed at what she'd observed.

"I didn't do nuthin', Baby Girl. Can't a man just enjoy tha' day?"

"We been working our asses off, knee-deep in walkers and blood all day. Nothin' enjoyable about the last six hours at all." She grabbed his elbow and pulled him out of earshot from the others. "What did you find, Merle? What did you take?"

"You bes' step off. I didn't find nothin'. Now stop accusin' me a' shit n' lets get tha' fuck outta' here 'for I start gettin' pissed off."

"Merle, I swear. If you're high..."

"I ain't high, so get off it. Let's go." he said, moving in what felt to him like slow motion. He turned towards the others and started to walk away.

XXXXX

Daryl got back right shortly dark. Aliya was in the downstairs shower. She had locked the bathroom door, but he knew how to pop the lock quietly. He slipped in unnoticed, and sat down on the stool. He took off his boots and peeled off his sweaty button-down flannel shirt when Aliya heard him. She wiped some of the steam off the glass door, making sure it was really Daryl, and smiled when she saw him unbuttoning his pants and sliding out of them.

Daryl opened the shower door and moved to her, pressing against her back, his arms slipping around her smooth wet skin. "Mmmmm" she said quietly. "Nice." she said, twisting her head around to kiss him, as the shower sprayed hot water on both their exhausted bodies.

"Rick said ya' did good today." he said, his hands roaming, skimming across skin, kneading flesh, exploring. Aliya could feel him pressing against her hip.

"Could we not talk shop right now?" she said, turning to face him, her long hair dripping heavy with water. She ran her hands across his chest, circling his tattoos, down his biceps, across his stomach to his hips. She pulled him to her as she stepped back against the shower wall. Daryl leaned in and they kissed roughly, his hands moving to cup her round ass, stretching her on her tiptoes. He kneaded the soft flesh between his fingers, his mouth moving to part her lips, tongue moving in slowly, snaking around hers as her hands moved back to his chest.

Aliya moaned into Daryl's mouth softly as he continued to kiss her. She pulled back, trying to breathe between the spray from the shower and Daryl's kisses, and pushed him back a step. She trailed her hands down his sides, his hips, the sides of his thighs as she kneeled down in front of him, taking him in. Now it was Daryl's turn to moan as she slid him slowly in and out, twisting her tongue, letting her hands play along. Daryl leaned forward and put his palms flat on the wall to steady himself as he moved with her. Aliya went slowly, carefully, knowing at what perfect point to stop before she'd gone too far.

Daryl had reached that particular point quickly this evening and when she let him slide one last time from her mouth, ending with a soft kiss on the tip, he pulled her up to her feet quickly. "Jesus, woman." he said breathlessly as he spun her around to face the wall. "Thought 'bout this all damn day." he said, bending his knees slightly and grasping her hips, pulling her back to meet him. Aliya let out a protracted gasp as he entered her slowly, bending forward to turning her head slightly to see him. Daryl's eyes were closed and his lips were pressed together tightly. She'd seen that look on his face before. He was in another world right now.

Daryl wrapped his arms around her waist and let one hand snake up to grasp her breast, pinching and twisting a nipple as he rocked his hips against her ass. He was trying to go slow, take his time, but it was damn near impossible. Daryl hadn't had a lot of girlfriends, hell, he hadn't had a lot of girls period, but he was pretty sure that none of them had made him feel this good, this happy.

Aliya was moaning softly with each thrust of Daryl's hips, rocking hers back to meet him. He reached a hand up and pulled her hair from in front, to behind, letting the water fall down her back and between them. Her hair was damn near to her waist, a dark brown mass of tangled curls that moved with them. He put the side of his cheek against her head and moved it slowly back and forth. "Daamn." he drawled, closing his eyes again. "Aw, daaaamn." he said, feeling the need to increase the tempo.

Daryl's movements sped up and he grasped her harder, holding her almost still as he rocked against her harder. Faster. He could tell from how she felt that she was almost closer now, as well, closing around him with more force, drawing him in deeper. Her breathing became more shallow and her moans louder as Daryl began to move quickly now, small grunts and growls escaping as he bit his lower lip to try to hold back as long as he could.

He let out a breath quickly, expelling the air from his lungs as he exploded, his hand now gripping her shoulders firmly as he pushed her against the shower wall, her elbows bent. One final, driving thrust and Aliya came as well, gasping loudly, trying to take a breath only to have it catch in her lungs. Daryl wrapped his arms around her and pushed her flat into the wall, swaying back and forth slowly as they both tried to regain their senses and steady themselves on their feet. "Jesus, Daryl." the small voice came from within his arms. "What you do to me."

Daryl turned Aliya around and picked her up, her legs wrapping around his waist. They were both fully under the spray of the shower now, water dripping down their noses, rolling down their cheeks, shoulders, hair. He kissed her slowly and turned them away from the spray, making a contended purr sound. Aliya closed her eyes and let herself go, enjoying the feelings surging through her and the hot water pounding down on her for just a minute longer. She was sure of one thing. She'd never felt like this with a guy before and come hell or high water, nothing was going to screw it up.

XXXXX

Daryl ran his hands over the silky underwear and whistled as Aliya batted his hand away and continued to try to dress, pulling the already-fastened bra over her head and adjusting herself into the cups. Twenty pounds lighter and she still couldn't go without, much to her chagrin.

"Stop it. I have to go help with dinner." she said, feigning being annoyed. She was exhausted. If it weren't her turn in the kitchen, she'd let him take those underwear off, have his way with her again, and slip off to a deep sleep without even eating dinner. "You need to go check out Merle. I think he's high." He was acting funny after we cleaned out the terminal. All, loose and relaxed. His eyes looked like he was on something, too. Not speed, he was definitely not hyper."

"Shit." he said, pulling on his pants. "I fuckin' knew it. I knew he'd do this."

"I'm not saying for sure. Don't go accusing him, I already have and he denied it. Just see what you think." she said, slipping on a pair of jeans.

Daryl shook his head. If there was one thing he knew, it was how to tell if his brother was high. Lord knows, he'd had years of practice.


	12. Chapter 12

**Man, even when I'm not updating regularly, you guys are amazing! Thanks for all the comments and favorites! Been a long dry spell but with the season finale just days away, we're gonna have to fill in our Daryl habit with fan fiction until they return for Season III! **

**Chapter 12 **

"You gotta' lotta' fuckin' nerve accusin' me a' shit, ya' know that, lil' Brother?"

Daryl shook his head. "I ain't accusin' ya' a' nuthin', I'm just askin' ya' if ya' found anythin' when ya' were goin' through those bags today."

"Didn't find shit, 'cept some booze. Now get off my dick 'bout it."

"I ain't on yer' dick. Bein' damn defensive for somebody who didn't find' nothin'."

"Fuck you. Last I looked, this was a free country. If I wanna' get high, I'll get high all fuckin' day long, ain't you 'r nobody else gonna' stop me."

"Tell that to tha' walker what eats yer' sorry ass when yer' stoned outta' yer mind. Those was the rules when ya' came here. No gettin' high. It's too fuckin' dangerous."

"Or what?" the heavier man said. "Whatchoo' gonna' do, kick me out? After yer' lil' convict girlfriend went ta' all that trouble ta' find me 'n get those other fucks ta' let me stay?"

"Shut up, Merle, 'n leave her outta' this." Daryl was starting to get red.

"Oh, she's in this, Motherfucker, she's in this up ta' her neck. So ya' better both just leave me tha' hell alone 'r yer' gonna be fuckin' sorry. Now get outta' my face." Merle barked and crushed the beer can, throwing it into the bed of the truck unceremoniously and stomping off.

XXXXX

Aliya dried her hands on the dishtowel and turned around, resting back against the sink. She looked at Daryl, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah. He was." Daryl said, looking down at his beer.

"Damn it." she whispered. She moved to the table and sat opposite him. "Did he say what?"

"Denied it but I could tell. Christ, look at his eyeballs."

Aliya nodded her head. "Now what?" she said quietly, looking at Daryl, eyes wide.

"Wait it out. See what he does. I don't think it's crystal, that'd be too hard ta' come by nowadays. If it's oxy or smack, he may not be as much trouble."

"Until he runs out."

Daryl snorted. "Yeah. Then tha' shit'll hit tha' fan."

"Jesus. This could blow everything sky high. What the fuck did I do?"

"You didn't do nothin'. Merle's always been like this."

"But I brought him back here."

"'S where he belongs. With us." Daryl said, rubbing his temples.

Aliya had her head cocked sideways. She and Daryl hadn't really talked about there being an "us." They avoided the subject pretty much altogether. She knew that she had serious feelings for Daryl, but that was the extent of it. She didn't want to talk about it, didn't want to label it. She just wanted it to be what it was, no complications...and she sure damn didn't want to do or say anything to make Daryl feel pressured.

"I don't think the others are real happy with him being here." she said. "They'll be looking for a reason to send him away."

"Fine. Then we'll all find someplace of our own." he shrugged. "Fuck them."

"What?" Aliya was dumbfounded. "The three of us?"

"You wouldn't go?" Daryl looked at her, his blue eyes burning into her.

"Of course I would. I just didn't..." she bit her lip. "I guess I didn't know where things stood." she said, fidgeting with the hem of her t-shirt.

"'Tha' fuck ya' _think_ they stand?" Daryl said, leaning towards her.

"I just didn't know you...uhm, that we were...ahh, shit. I didn't know you felt that way."

"Duh." he said, standing up, his chair scraping the floor. He walked out of the kitchen and down the stairs to the basement, his boots making muffled thumping noises on the stairs as Aliya's heart stopped for a second.

XXXXX

Aliya looked at the red-rimmed eyes and the murky complexion. The stubble was about three days-worth and Merle's clothes were as rumpled as the rest of him. He was about half-conscious, slumped in the easy chair in the room in the basement he shared with Daryl.

"Dipshit good ta' ya'?" he mumbled.

"Dipshit is very good to me, thank you for asking. Why?"

"Cos." he burped loudly. "If he ain't, I'm a' gonna' kick his ass 'till kingdom comes."

"Well, thanks for the concern, but I don't think you could even find your _own _ass right now, Merle. What'd ya' take?"

"Nothin'. Just nat'chur'ly mellow."

"Right, and I'm a six-foot tall black Jesus with a halo." Aliya threw a blanket around Merle's shoulders. "Sweetie, I'm worried about you. I know you found some shit at the airport and you been using ever since. Please, Merle. Just tell me what it is so Daryl and I know what to do when you run out."

"Why ya' so nice ta' me?"

"I'm nice to _everybody_." Aliya started to take off Merle's boots. "Come on, tell Aliya what you got stashed. I won't touch it, I just need to know how to help."

"I can fuckin' take care a' myself." he said, his voice low, his words run-together. "Don't need nobody."

"You may not need anybody but you sure seem to need that shit you been taking. Come on, Merle. Oxy? Vicodin? Tell me, Honey. You know I won't get into it. Daddy would slap me from the grave if I even thought about it."

"Mmm. Promise?"

"Felon's honor." Aliya raised her hand to her heart.

Merle let out a high little giggle. "Tha'ss right. You're Daryl's little jailbird. Hmmm." he said, almost nodding off. "Tweeeet tweeeet." he said in a sing-song voice, smiling sweetly. "Oxy. Big bag. Set fer' a whole month at least."

"Nothin' else, Sug?" she purred, trying to lead him to tell her more.

"Naaaaw. Nothin' else." Merle was starting to snore by the time he finished his sentence.

XXXX

"Four boxes of 9 mms'...box and a half of .44's,...34 slugs for the Mossberg,...couple-three boxes of .22's for the rifles." Shane took an out-loud inventory of the ammo situation for the rest of the group. "Plus whatever we got on each of us."

Aliya shook her head at Daryl, who was frowning as well. "How did we get _so_ low?" she said. "This is _way _too low for my comfort level."

Daryl looked up at her from under his brow. "Know anywhere close?"

"We already got everything we could find." T-Dog shook his head.

Aliya looked at Daryl and then at Shane and T-Dog. "Maybe." Lemme do some checking."

"What, you gonna Google it?" T-Dog teased.

"No, silly, I'm gonna look in the damn phone book!" she grinned. Aliya walked to the cabinet, pulled a telephone book from the drawer and thumbed through the pages. She knew that in the panic of the first days of the outbreak, gun and sporting goods stores in the big towns would have been hit hardest by looters. Out here, though, out away from metro Atlanta, things might not have gotten so crazy and people may have just closed up shop. Hunkered down, as they called it in the South. She found half a page of firearms dealers, gun repair shops and better yet "prepper suppliers."

She loved the preppers. Bless their hearts, they had been waiting and preparing for Armageddon and they had all the right stuff. Weapons, food, water, power supplies, vehicles. Most of them, though, were expecting economic collapses, polar shifts, or other kinds of stuff. But not walkers, definitely not. Many of them went the way of their neighbors-realizing too late how this thing worked, getting bit, biting others and everyone turning. Hopefully the group would be able to scrounge enough ammo from these places to make them all feel comfortable again. Maybe some weapons and other stuff, if they were lucky.

"I'm going to make a list of places that are close and then we can do some more planning." she said, taking the phone book and sitting down to a tablet at the table. She pulled a pencil out of her twisted up hair and began writing down addresses with Shane looking over her shoulder.

She looked up once to see Daryl glowering at her. She narrowed her eyes imperceptibly and shot him a look that he immediately understood. She was real clear. He was being stupid. He knew she didn't trust Shane either, but still, it was hard to see him breathing down her neck. The well-muscled man stood up a little straighter and erased the frown. "Gonna check on Merle." he said, heading to the basement stairs. Aliya nodded and returned to studying the phone book.

XXXXX

Merle was slumped over in the easy chair in the office downstairs again, half out of it, the beer in his hand ready to tumble to the floor if his grip became any more loose than it was. The cigarette in the other hand had already burned a nice-size hole in the fabric f the armrest on the other side.

"God DAMN it, Merle!" Daryl yelled as he approached. "What the fuck? I gotta babysit ya' all tha' fuckin' time now?" He smacked the beer bottle and it clattered to the floor, it's remaining contents spilling on the tile and spreading outwards in a foamy circle. He grabbed the cigarette and slid it into an empty beer can on the tabletop.

Merle's head rose slowly and he started murmuring something barely intelligible. "What?" he slurred. "Whatsamatta' here, Baby Brother. I..."

his head fell again.

"MERLE!" Daryl yelled again and hit his brother hard in the upper arm with his fist.

"Damn it, Daryl, ya' don't gotta yell." he said, his words thick.

"Where is it?" Daryl said, his fists clenching.

"Where's whuuut?" Merle mocked.

"Yer' stash. Where is it?"

"Ain't got no stash. Go fuck 'yerself."

"I know ya' do, ya' told Aliya already, now where is it?" Daryl hissed. "Look at ya'. Yer' so outta' it ya' can't stand up."

"Leave me tha' fuck alone, I'm warnin' ya', son, just leave me alone." Merle tried to stand up but ended up falling back into the chair.

"You're fuckin' hopeless." Daryl said in a cold voice. "Bout as useful as tits on a boar. Nothin' but a god-damned addict. Plain 'n simple." He turned and walked to the desk in the room and began rummaging through drawers and searching for Merle's stash of pills. "Know it's here somewhere." he said to himself. "Fuckin' flush it when I find it."

"No, you won't." Aliya said quietly. She had walked in without Daryl hearing her and was standing in front of him before he knew it. "We need whatever's left. One of us gets hurt bad, a bunch of oxy could come in real handy. You find it, you give it to Dale. He'll keep it safe." she whispered.

"What 'choo two lovebirds whisperin' about over there?" Merle said in a sing-song voice. "I heeeaaaar youuuu."

"Shut up, Merle." Daryl growled.

XXXXX

"Hey, Sweet Thang." Merle oozed. "How 'bout you come on over here 'n sit next ta me. I won't bite, 'less ya' want me to."

Bridgette was sitting behind the garage on a blanket, smoking a one-hitter. She'd found the bag of marijuana and the pipe in a coat pocket when she'd gone through one of the suitcases from the airport. It was pretty good-sized bag and she'd been enjoying herself around this time almost every afternoon since she found it. Just seemed to mellow her out and give her something to look forward to during the day. She didn't see the need for sharing, she'd seen Aliya put quite a few things in her pocket: makeup, a pocket knife, no doubt for Daryl, condoms. It only seemed fair she got to keep some of what she'd found too.

Bridgette didn't budge, but she shot Merle a look that was more suggestive than threatening. "You stay away from me, Merle Dixon." she said unconvincingly.

"Aw, com'on Sugar, you don't gotta' be that way."

"What do you want?"

"Well, for starters, you could share whatcha' got there in 'yer pocket."

"No. Besides. You probably have your own stash." Bridgette looked at Merle wide-eyed as he sat down beside her.

"Maybe...maybe I do at that, Dollface." Bridgette scooted a little bit away from him. "You be nice to ol' Merle 'n maybe, jes' maybe I'll share."

Bridgette looked at the man with a fair amount of theatrics, her chin down, obvious pout on her lips. "What are you proposing?" she said.

"I ain't _proposin' _nothin', just that we could have a real good time if ya' wanted. Whatever your lil' heart desires, Sugar Tits" Merle scooted closer to Bridgette, his good hand between them, turning slightly to hid his missing one. "I ain't the Boogie man, I'm just...misunderstood."

"I hear you're a baaaad man. That I should be afraid of you. I shouldn't have anything to do with you." Bridgette leaned in towards Merle and ran a hand down the front of his shirt. "Are you as bad as that brother of yours?" she purred as her fingers traced circles on his stomach.

"Who, Daryl? He's a pussy-cat compared to me, Darlin'. I taught him everything he knows." Merle said, his hand now around Bridgette's upper arm. "How about we have a lil' party a' our own, right here, 'n ya' can decide fer' yerself just how bad I am."

Bridgette looked at Merle. The glassy, bloodshot, blue eyes were ringed with dark shadows underneath. He needed a shave, but nowadays, which of the guys didn't, she thought. She found that stubble too sexy to resist on Shane but now, on Merle, it was just unattractive. She could smell the beer on his breath and the Irish Spring soap he'd scrubbed with for his last shower. Merle was running his hand up and down her arm slowly. He was smiling a half-grin and staring at her in anticipation of her next move.

Bridgette crawled over his thickly-muscled thighs and sat on his lap, facing him, putting her arms around his shoulders. She leaned in close and kissed his stubbly neck as she ran a hand down to the front pocket of his sleeveless shirt. "Now, what do we have in this little baggie here?" she teased, withdrawing her fingers slowly to reveal a small baggie with a handful of white pills. She dangled the baggie between two fingers in front of his face. "Baby, you gotta share if you wanna' party with me." she said in a low, suggestive voice, batting her eyelashes.

"Well, be my guest, Precious." Merle smiled widely "Little mood enhancer never hurt nuthin'."

"Well, thanks, Hon." Bridgette said, pulling the baggie back quickly and depositing it down her shirt into her bra. "I'll give ya a call when I feel like that party, 'k? Bye now." She quickly hopped off the large man's lap and stood up, taking a couple steps back, making sure to clear his reach.

"Whaaaa-?" Merle stuttered and blinked. "Gimme that bag, ya' little bitch, that's _mine._" he said, clearing his throat and trying to reach for her leg with his one hand. "Get back here. We ain't...I ain't done yet."

"Oh, Merle, you are _so _done." Bridgette shook her head and turned quickly, picking up her feet and running back around to the house and leaving Merle standing now, more pissed and frustrated than bewildered.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

_A/N: With the events of the past few weeks on the show, this FF has become a little AU now since some of the characters here aren't with us anymore... Even so I'm going to stick with it as it started out. There's plenty of time to write more canon this summer while we wait for October to come around...and we'll ALL be dying for something to keep us occupied, I reckon!_

Two days later, they were packed and ready to go in Shane's SUV. Daryl, Aliya and T-Dog were leaving for a couple days, map in hand, ready to hit every place listed in the phone book on this side of the greater metro Atlanta area, looking for ammo. Daryl was uneasy leaving Merle, but Merle promised he'd stay in the basement, in their room and not bother anybody. He and Aliya had almost had a fight about leaving. She'd used the "he'll either sink or swim" rationale on him. Daryl wasn't buying it but as the discussion heated up, Aliya began unbuttoning her shirt, making him almost forget he had a brother, much less a mess of one like Merle. He later accused her of not playing fair and she told him the time to argue that would have been _before _her shirt was off.

Aliya had gone downstairs one last time to say goodbye and get one final warning in to Merle She was stern, threatening almost. She reminded him that it was her neck on the line, that she'd been the one to insist that he be allowed to stay and that his behavior while they were gone would be important. Merle was quiet for the most part. He rolled his eyes a couple times but for the most part, let Aliya speak without interruption.

"Now, shoot, Shadow, I'll be good. I'll stay here 'n play nice while you 'n Daryl go off 'n leave me...alone...a'gin." Merle mumbled in an almost lilting voice, the oxy making him loose and mellow.

"Don't your dare try to lay a guilt trip on me, Merle Dixon, don't you DARE!" Aliya said. "If you weren't higher 'n a kite, maybe you could go with us, but no, you made your choice when you decided drugs were more important than everything else." Aliya put her hands on her hips. "So you just stop trying to play head games. You forget who you're talking to."

"I'm talkin' ta' somebody who ought to be damn glad I don't talk more about history." Merle snapped out of his haze and looked at Aliya. "_Somebody's _history."

"What did you say?" she looked at Merle with wide eyes.

"You heard me, Sweet Thing, you keep raggin' on me 'bout that oxy, I'm likely ta' take s'more of it 'n get real chatty with those sons a' bitches upstairs. Maybe I tell them somethin' they prob'ly would be real uncomfer't'ble findin' out. I ain't tha' only one 'round here stands a chance a' gettin' kicked outta' this lil' happy household 'cause a things I done. Glass houses, right Baby? Glass fuckin' houses."

Aliya narrowed her eyes and leaned in, her face close enough to his to smell his breath. "You son of a bitch. You say one word about me and you'll o.d. in your sleep. I guarantee it." She turned away and stormed out of the basement, her feet heavy on the stairs.

"Let's fucking go, God damn it, we ain't got all mother-fucking day!" she barked, slamming the door of the vehicle as hard as she could, leaving T-Dog standing near the front bumper looking at Daryl with a bemused smile on his face. Daryl looked down at his scuffed brown work boots and squinted, looking back up at the passenger seat where Aliya sat, arms crossed, scowl on her face. He grimaced a bit and looked at T-Dog, who shook his head and started to walk towards the SUV.

"Only one man I know make a woman that mad." he said under his breath. "Merle...ain't no other reason. Gotta' be that damn Merle Dixon." he continued to mutter as he approached the vehicle.

XXXXX

An hour later, the Hyundai sped down the highway, with Aliya in the front seat still seething.

"You gonna' be pissed off the whole trip?" T-Dog said, handing half of a stale Kit-Kat bar up to her.

"No." she said gruffly. "Shit. Sorry you guys. I shouldn't take it out on you two because _your brother _was being an ass." she looked at Daryl sideways and waved off the chocolate bar.

"What'd he say?" Daryl said, his eyes not leaving the road.

"Nothing. Forget about it." she said, glancing towards the back seat quickly. "It's over. He's probably passed out by now."

T-Dog cleared his throat. "I ain't seen Merle in a week now. What's up?"

"He's keeping to himself. Stayin' in the basement."

"Probably best since both you two are gone." T-Dog nodded.

"I'm starting to feel bad about leaving him alone." Aliya said, turning towards the back seat.

"Merle needs somebody to watch him?" T-Dog was curious and amused at the same time.

"My brother don't need _nobody _ta' baby sit him!" Daryl said indignantly. "Bes' shut yer' mouth."

"Hey, we both know damn good 'n well that Merle gets out of control when you're not around." The bald-headed man shrugged. "Ain't nobody gonna argue _that_."

"Left on to 185 up here." Aliya said, looking at her notebook. "Let's change the subject, ok guys? One pissed off person in the car is enough. Don't need three."

"Not a problem." T-Dog said, gazing out the window, as Daryl slowed the SUV down just enough to keep both wheels on the ground as he took the corner.

XXXXX

It was after dinner when Bridgette finally appeared. She'd been in bed with a cold for a couple days now. Rick dropped the coffee mug he had in his hand, stepping back awkwardly as the stoneware shattered on the hard kitchen floor splattering hot black liquid over everything within a two-foot circle around him. Lori and Andrea both stood up from the table at the same time and gasped.

Bridgette moved to the table and sat down quietly, keeping her eyes down. "I'm ok." she said in a whisper.

Shane quickly moved to her and knelt down in front of her. "Bridgette, what happened? How did this happen?" He brushed the hair out of her face softly to reveal a black eye and several scratches on her cheek. There were scratches on her neck and forearms.

"I'm fine. It's nothing, really. I'll be ok." Bridgette said, her fingers moving nervously against each other in her lap. She began to cry as she put both hands over here face. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone by myself. I didn't think..."

"Bridgette," Shane said softly. "where did you go? Did you get bit? he asked.

"I...I...no. It wasn't a walker." She said, looking into his eyes. "I...it was...he..."her voice trailed off and she began to cry again.

"Who? _He _who?" Carol said, her hand stroking Bridgette's hair. "Who, Honey? Tell us who."

"It was...Merle. Merle Dixon."

Shane and Rick traded looks. Shane rose and stepped back towards Rick. "Ladies, why don't you help Bridgette back to her room. Check her out and help her with her wounds. We'll stay here until you're done and then I'll talk to her about what happened." Carol helped Bridgette to her feet and the two of them turned towards the stairs, Bridgette limping and hugging herself with both arms. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned back towards the two men.

"Stop him, Shane. Stop him before he does this to someone else." she said, tears welling in her eyes. "He's an animal." She turned back towards the stairs and hobbled up, one step at a time, with Lori and Carol holding her up on either side.

XXXXX

An hour later, the two men were at the top of the stairs. "Merle Dixon!" Shane bellowed. "We're coming down. Don't do anything stupid, man."

"Fuck you, Cop!" the gravelly voice answered.

"Merle. It's Rick Grimes. We're coming down to talk. We're unarmed. We just wanna' talk."

"I don't care if you got a fuckin' cannon in your pants. I ain't gotta' talk to you. You don't got no 'thority over nobody no more. Come on down here 'n talk all ya want. Don't mean I gotta listen...'r tell you _shit_."

Rick went down the stairs first, followed by Shane. They stopped at the bottom of the stairs a minute and let their eyes adjust to the dim light coming from the single bulb next to a big chair. Merle was sitting in the chair, his back to them, legs splayed out in front. He was groggy and even in the dim light, the two men could see that he was stoned.

"Merle, " Rick walked around to the front of the chair and faced Merle. "we have a problem." he continued.

"What, you lose your hat, _Sheriff_?" the big man chuckled to himself.

"Merle, what you did to Bridgette. We can't allow that. You had no right."

"Whuuut?" Merle's head nodded to one side. "What you talkin' bout? Who's Brigette?"

"Nice try, Dixon." Shane hissed. "She told us what you did to her. You're out of here." In brighter light, Merle could have seen how red the dark-haired man was. "We warned you."

"Aww, fuck _you_." Merle said slowly. "I don't know what you're talkin' 'bout. I din't do nothin' to nobody." he said quietly. "What'd she say I do?"

Rick bent over Merle and put his lips close to Merle's ear. "You raped her. She said you raped her behind the garage. Two days ago."

"Whaaaat?" I ain't been outta the basement for days, not since that little bitch stole my..."

"Merle, we know you did it. We've seen her injuries. _Somebody _sure as hell did it." Rick said calmly. "She says it was you."

"Then the little cunt's lyin'. I never did nothin' to her. She's fuckin' lyin'." Merle sat up a little straighter and looked at Rick.

"She ain't lyin. You did it 'n you know it." Shane's voice was raised now. He walked around in front of Merle, next to Rick. "I ought to shoot you right here, myself. Right now."

"Now just calm down, Shane. Ain't nobody gonna' shoot no one." Rick tried to diffuse the situation. "Merle, we have a problem. You are here only because Aliya went to bat for you. She promised that you would not be a threat...and yet...here we are."

"Fuck you 'n fuck her too. I din't touch that little bitch 'n you know it."

Merle's face was starting to get redder by the minute.

"No, Merle, I do not know it. I'm going by what she told us and by what I see. I see physical evidence that she was attacked, I have her statements which corroborate her injuries, and I have a man who's so drugged out he probably doesn't even know what really happened." Rick narrowed his eyes. "You will be leaving. Now. I'll have Shane and Glenn get some stuff together, but you are going. Just like we told said when you came. No second chances. You're gone."

"You can't do this. I didn't do _nothin'_. You ask Daryl. Ask that woman a' his. "

"Well, we plan on having a long talk with them when they get back. That'll be in a couple days. In the mean time, you're out of here."

"'N just where tha' hell ya' think I'm gonna' go?" Merle protested. He was wide awake now.

"Don't really care, Merle. For now, until Daryl gets back, you can take one of those other houses on the other end. Just stay away from here. If we see you, we won't hesitate to shoot you on sight." Shane was breathing heavily now, his face as red as Merle's.

"Both a' you can' kiss my lily white ass. I ain't goin' nowhere. I didn't do it. I didn't mess wi' that girl 'n I damn sure ain't goin' ta' leave. I got just as much right 's you two dicks ta' be here. Now get on outta' here 'fore I go gettin' good 'n pissed off."

The noise at the bottom of the stairs turned all three of their heads at once. "Krrrr-chiiiiit." It was the heavy metal sound of a shot gun shell being chambered. Andrea stood at the foot of the stairs now, pointing Shane's Mossberg at Merle. "No. You go now. We're not taking any chances. Get up Merle." she said through clenched teeth.

"Fuck you, Sugar Tits. I ain't goin' nowhere." Andrea shouldered the weapon put her finger on the trigger.

"If I were you two, I'd step back. These are awful close quarters down here." she warned Shane and Rick.

"Andrea, put the gun down." Rick tried to use his calm voice.

"No, Rick. I will not. He's leaving now. We saw what he did to Bridgette. He's a danger to all of us. He leaves now."

"Andrea." Shane raised his voice.

"No. I'm serious. Get up, Merle. Right now." She yelled.

Rick looked at Merle and raised his hands. "This is not the way we'd planned it but the results are going to be the same. Merle, you're going to leave now."

"You gonna' let that bitch shoot me? For somethin' I didn't do?" Merle asked, his arms open wide.

"I would." Shane grinned at Andrea. "You bet your ass I would."

"Merle. Now." Rick shook his head and shot the man a warning look. "They're serious."

"Well, looks like we know who wears tha' pants in THIS lil' family, don't we?" Merle sneered. He put his hands in the air and started walking to the stairs as Andrea circled carefully around to give herself enough distance between them in case Merle lunged for the gun. "Anybody needs me, I'll be at tha' neighbors." he laughed, climbing the stairs one by one. "This ain't _over _you fuckers. You'll see. I'll get each 'n every last one a' ya'." he said as he struggled to go up the steps.


	14. Chapter 14

Shall we disclaim? Oh, yes, lets. I don't own or have any claims to any of TWD characters, etc. and make no gains, monetary or otherwise, blah blah blah. I do, however, claim to own a few of the action figures and I do whatever I WANT with them...and I do.

**Chapter 14**

Aliya, Daryl and T-Dog stopped at a series of over a dozen little towns and hamlets in their attempt to find guns and ammunition. It was an uneventful trip, to say the least. They managed to find several military assault rifles in a couple of abandoned Humvees on a road outside of Rayburn and a small gunsmith's shop about 20 miles south of there that apparently no one remembered about because it hadn't been looted. After they took care of the owner, who was milling around the store missing a hand and most of his other arm, they cleaned out the place and damn near filled the back of the Hyundai. Daryl said it was like Halloween when you went to the one house that gave out full-size candy bars instead of the little baby ones.

The saw a lot of walkers in groups now, more so than solitary walkers. They took out a lot of them in the smaller groups and moved on before they could get in too much trouble. T-Dog compared it to bubbles in a glass of beer. "You know, at first there's individual bubbles and then they start rising together making larger and larger bubbles. Same with walkers. Now they're clumping together, too"

"You drink beer in a glass?" Daryl scoffed. He looked at Aliya and winked.

"Pussy!" they both said loudly, laughing more that they'd said the same thing at the same time than at the jab at T-Dog, who just flipped Daryl off and sat back, huffing and crossing his arms over his chest.

Now it as morning. They were on their way back, half a day's drive back to the camp. T-Dog was snoring in the back seat, head back, mouth open, the deep, restful sleep of a man who is feeling secure, or at least safer than usual.

Daryl looked at Aliya. She was leaning her head against the passenger-side window, eyes watching the road, a look of worry knitting her brow slightly.

Her feet were curled under her in the seat. She looked like a little girl in her too-big, army-fatigue-green wool sweater that she'd thrown on to offset the chilly morning air. They'd spent the night on the second floor loft of a tiny A-frame house they'd found right before sunset. It was cold this morning and she'd rummaged through a dresser drawer to find the heavy sweater.

Her head moved slightly towards him and their eyes met. "Better watch that road, there, Bub." she said quietly. Daryl frowned and bobbed his head slightly in disapproval.

"Drive better 'n you." he said indignantly.

"You do most things better than me." she said, her slight smile leaving her face. She started to say something and then hesitated, exhaling with frustration.

"What?" Daryl asked, cocking his head sideways.

"I threatened to kill Merle yesterday." she said softly.

"So?"

"I was serious."

"What stopped you?" One corner of Daryl's mouth was curled up in bemusement.

"You, I guess." Aliya shrugged.

" Ya' know, he ain't gonna' consider ya' family 'till ya've actually tried ta' do it least once." he half-teased. He knew that Merle had the utmost respect for Aliya, no matter how he acted. The fact that she was his girlfriend was not that big of a deal for Merle. Being a Henderson garnered Aliya a lot of swagger in Merle's mind.

Aliya rolled her eyes. "How do you do it? How do you deal with him without losing your mind?"

"Just get used ta' it, guess." Daryl said, looking down quickly and then back at the road, dodging a fox that skittered across in front of the suv. "Ya' just can't let him get to ya'. He is what he is."

"He's gonna crash and burn, you know that, don't you?" she said looking out the window, not wanting to look into Daryl's eyes. "I just don't want..." her voice trailed off and the silence hung like smoke in the air. Daryl looked at her, shrugging his shoulders with a raised flat palm, arching his eyebrows. "I just don't want you to go down _with _him." she said quietly.

"Ain't happened yet." he frowned, keeping his eyes glued on the road. So many things had happened in his life because of Merle, so many unpleasant, downright bad things, and yet, deep down he knew that it was dealing with that shit that was what helped him survive now. What made him strong, careful. She knew it too. She'd been through her own shit as well.

"I just want to go off somewhere. By ourselves. Get away from everybody else. I'm tired of everything, Daryl." Aliya sighed. "I'm tired of being scared, of being worried about what other people think. I'm tired of trying to get along with everybody. I just want...to run away from everything."

Daryl turned and looked at her. She had her head back and her eyes closed, a small tear barely visible as it tried to escape from the corner of her closed lid. He reached over and put a hand on her knee. "Me too." he said in a barely audible whisper.

XXXXX

Bridgette brushed her hair and looked in the bathroom mirror one more time. The bruises she'd given herself with the back of the wooden hairbrush and the self-inflicted black eye weren't healing very fast. She knew she looked horrible, right down to the ugly fingernail scratches on her arms, but it had to be done. It was exactly the look she was going for. She stopped and looked distractedly at the water in the sink, thinking to the exchange with Shane when she'd finally made her appearance. He seemed concerned, shocked, genuinely upset. She was hoping it would work. She needed him to start wanting to protect her, to start thinking of hers as, well, _his. _

She changed her top to a short-sleeved t-shirt so that the scratches on her arms were more visible and walked downstairs slowly, gingerly taking one step at a time. Shane was standing in the kitchen with a glass of water in his hand, leaning against the counter top. She walked to him and lowered her self into a chair.

"Bridgette. Are you, uh, feeling any better?"

"I'm fine. A little sore, but that's all. I'll be fine." she tried to force a smile.

"You know, if you need to talk, Andrea's a good listener, I mean, I'm sure you don't want to talk about things to a...a..guy." he said.

"I don't want to talk about anything. I'm fine. I just think now that he's out of here," she said, stopping mid-sentence and swallowing dramatically, "I'll be ok. It's over." she started to well up and put her head down on the counter. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't cry." she croaked, the sobs coming easily.

"Hey, hey, it's ok. It's ok to cry. Don't be ashamed, you went through something awful." Shane moved to the bar and gingerly put his arms around Bridgette. She moved hers around his waist tightly and buried her face in his chest, sobbing quietly.

"I just feel horrible. Ugly. Oh, Shane, it was awful." she said between sobs. Shane continued to hold Bridgette for several minutes, rubbing her arm and back slowly and stroking her hair. Bridgette continued to cling to him, holding him close. She let go and pulled away slightly, rubbing her eyes. "It's just that, I don't think that now..." she said, looking downwards, "now no decent man will want me." she whispered.

"Don't think like that." Shane said. "You have to put it behind you and move on. Don't let it change how you feel about yourself." he said, frowning.

"Guys don't think like that, Shane. They don't want something...dirty. Used. Would you? Would you want me knowing what you do?" Bridgette moved closer to Shane. "Would you, Shane?" she said looking straight into his eyes.

The dark-haired man swallowed and blinked without saying a word. Shane found himself not knowing what to say to a woman, for once. He wasn't sure what the appropriate answer was. He'd always thought of her as hot, but now wasn't the exact time he figured good to show her he was interested. He stumbled a bit on his words, "Well, yeah, of course, I, ah, hell yes. Any man would. But I think this is a conversation for another time." Shane rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, uncomfortable as hell.

Bridgette smiled. "Thank you." she said, nodding. "I know you're just saying that, but thank you." She leaned in close and kissed his cheek softly. "I really wish you weren't just being nice." she said, inches from his face.

Shane took a small half-step back and turned his head slightly. "Ok then. I, uhm, I need to go check on something." he said quickly, looking around quickly. "I'll see you later." turning towards the door to exit as fast as he could.

XXXXX

Aliya rounded the back corner of the abandoned convenience store and felt a hand reach out, spin her around and move her towards the building's buff-colored brick wall. The tall man in the dark pants and shirt pushed her against the wall roughly and pinned her shoulders flat as he pressed into her, his mouth covering hers, muffling her scream. He kissed her forcefully, his hands wandering up and down, groping her everywhere until she was able to make him step back with a hard shove against his chest.

"Jesus Christ, Daryl, you scared the shit out of me. Don't fuckin' _do _that!" Aliya said loudly, leaning her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. "Damn it!" she panted. "What's Dog doing?"

"Still siphonin'." he smiled broadly. "We got time." he said, moving towards her again.

"No, we don't." she stood upright and grinned. Aliya put her hands on her hips. "We definitely do NOT have time for that." she said, as she slapped his hand away.

"Stop yakin' we would."

"Cut it out. I'm serious."

"Serious too." Daryl said pushing her against the wall again, this time gently. "C'mon."

"Daryl, our asses would literally be exposed. Anybody could come along. T-Dog could see us. A walker..." Daryl's mouth on hers cut the words off abruptly. She wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him back hard, opening her mouth so his tongue could move in. They spent a couple minutes like that, Aliya opening one eye now and then to make sure nothing was walking up on them. She could tell that they were quickly approaching the point where neither of them would be able to stop. It had been a couple days at least and she found herself wondering if just maybe they could pull it off but then quickly chastised herself for entertaining the thought of risking life and limb for a quick one. She closed her eyes one last time and returned to the moment at hand, feeling Daryl's strong hands closing and opening on her waist, his tongue dipping and rolling against hers, his breathing become heavier.

"Aw, shit." An embarrassed voice from behind them said. "All ready." T-Dog called, turning his back to them when he saw them. He turned around and started walking quickly along the side of the building, towards the gas pumps out in front.

Daryl pulled away from him and grinned at Aliya, letting loose of her and turning back towards the other man. "Yeah, me too." he said, as Aliya blushed and attempted to straighten the baggy green sweater. Daryl turned around and walked backwards, still grinning. Aliya raised a hand to flip him off but stopped in her tracks, her mouth open but no sound coming out.

On the road in front of the convenience store were about four dozen walkers. T-dog had frozen when he'd seen them, as had Daryl the minute he turned away from Aliya and spotted them himself. Only a handful were looking in their direction, most of them were focused ahead towards the road. They were protected somewhat by the fact that they were on the side of the building and not directly out front in the horde's line of sight. Daryl looked back at Aliya and then towards the Hyundai, which was parked about 50 yards away, in front of the pumps. If they ran for their vehicle they would actually be running towards the walkers. If they stayed there, the walkers that had seen them would for sure move towards them and attract the attention of the rest of the horde.

Daryl started to walk backwards slowly. T-Dog, who had been standing silently, turned and walked quietly towards the building as well. Daryl grabbed Aliya's arm and pulled her around as he passed, moving them both along the side of the building and around the corner to the back of the store, out of sight of most of the walkers except the ones who'd noticed them and started to follow. His steps quickened and he pushed her hard in front of him. "Fuckin' RUN!" he croaked. "Now. Into them woods!"


	15. Chapter 15

I know, it's been a long, long time. Sorry. Life happens. Please remember the ratings system. This story is rated MA for mature audiences only. If you're not at least 18, you should not be here.

**Chapter 15.**

Aliya half-tripped trying to pick up her feet and look back to see if T-Dog was ok. He was about ten yards behind them now and had started to run as well. She started to sprint as hard as she could, jumping over trash and debris behind the store and in the overgrown grassy area between the store and the tree line. She ran into the woods and kept going, shoving branches and limbs out of her path, looking for someplace, anyplace which would serve as a hiding place for the three of them. She could hear Daryl right on her heels and T-Dog a little behind them. She could also hear the crashing and cracking of greenery and sticks as a couple of the walkers followed after them.

Aliya ran for what seemed like hours, deeper into the thicket until she saw a big oak tree, half fallen, and ducked behind it to catch her breath. Her hands were scratched and bleeding in a few places from tree branches and sticker bushes and she was panting, her lungs on fire. She heard someone moving behind her and stuck out her head to see Daryl about forty feet from her. She made a hissing sound through clenched teeth and caught his attention, motioning for him to come to her.

Daryl slumped down, panting, and pulled her down with him.

"Where's Dog?" she asked. Daryl drew in a deep breath and tried to speak but the noise behind them stopped him.

"Get these fuckers off my ass!" T-Dog yelled as he ran by, two moaning walkers trailing closely, ratty clothing and limbs flopping clumsily. They were followed by a couple more a bit further behind.

"Go left!" Daryl screamed as he stood up, aiming his crossbow and one of the two walkers closest to T-Dog. The large bald man zigzagged to the left quickly, opening up a space between he and the walkers so there would be less chance Daryl's bolt would hit him accidentally. Daryl fired and the walker dropped, the bolt sticking out of the back of it's skull by about three inches. He reloaded and turned quickly to the second walker and dropped it with a bolt through the temple as it turned towards T-Dog.

Aliya picked up a thick branch beside her and stood up, quickly moving away from Daryl to draw the attention of the other two who were lagging behind.

"Hey, Dead Guys. Over here!" she called. The two slowed and turned towards her, their arms out. "Come and get it." she said, baiting them, shaking the branch and walking backwards quickly. The first one reached her as she swung the branch upwards, the end clipping him in the jaw and knocking him sideways. He lurched but didn't fall. When she brought the branch against his neck, he tumbled forward and she moved closer, striking his head with the end of the branch until the skull caved in from the force and the number of blows she had inflicted.

"Move!" Aliya heard T-Dog scream just as she looked up from the oozing, putrid mass in front of her. The second walker, a woman in a bloody yellow and white velour jogging suit, was almost on top of her now. Aliya ducked down as the walker reached her. She made herself into a tiny ball at the walker's feet and pushed into the lower legs of the walker, throwing it off kilter. The walker's forward momentum carried it over, tumbling past Aliya as decayed, bony hands grasped and clawed trying to stop the fall. The walker let out an unearthly screech as it rolled . Aliya reached for the huge stick and bobbed up, turning to the now-prone body on the ground in front of her, its arms and hands still waving and grasping. She brought the stick down hard on the walker's face over and over until the eye socket shattered, along with the rest of the scull, and it stopped moving. Aliya struck the skull a couple more times to make sure and then turned around quickly towards the two men.

"Son of a _bitch_." she said, tossing the branch and breathing heavily. Daryl looked at her with his eyebrows raised.

"What?" she said quietly.

Daryl just shook his head slowly. Aliya shrugged and turned to T-Dog, who by this time was at her side. "You ok?"

"I'm ok. Are you?" he said.

"What the hell, you two? Jesus. I club two walkers and you're looking at me like I'm Hannibal Lecter."

"Naw, ain't that." T-Dog said.

"Then what _is _it?"

"He ain't used ta' seein' ya with that look on 'yer face." Daryl frowned.

"_What _look?" Aliya was getting frustrated.

"You just looked...really...angry." T-Dog said.

"I AM really angry. I'm tired of dead people trying to eat us!" she said, a bit of an uncharacteristic whine to her voice. "Now lets go home. Please? Can we just... go... back... home?"

T-Dog took a couple steps toward her and put his arm around Aliya's shoulder. "Let's get you home. Nice bath. Hot meal. Couple drinks. Make you feel all better."

"'k." she said quietly. "But I want those drinks while I'm _in _that bath." she looked over her shoulder at Daryl and raised an eyebrow.

XXXXX

Merle looked around at his new surroundings. He had locked the doors and flopped down on the couch without even looking to see what was where before he delved into his stash and numbed himself into oblivion with some of his beloved Oxycontin. He threw a handful in his mouth and bit down with his back teeth, crunching the bitter white tablets and swallowing as best he could. He looked at the boxes of supplies that Shane and Rick had put on the floor next to the front door. They were sitting on top of two cases of bottled water.

Merle stood, shakily, and walked to the front door, ripping at the plastic-wrapped cases with disgust, cursing and muttering under his breath, his mouth dry with the tiny, rocky remnants of the pills. He freed one bottle, jerking it almost out of his own hand, his good hand, as he called it, and put it under his other arm, twisting off the cap roughly and downing half the bottle in he first gulp. "Bleeeeehhhw" he shook his head, sticking his tongue out. "Grade fucking-A stuff!" he roared and moved back to the couch, sprawling out on his back with the bottle of water still in his hand, splashing the front of his shirt. He laid there for a long while until the Oxy began to lead him down, the edges of his field of vision getting darker, his eyelids heavier.

"Mmmm. Now that's what I like." he murmured. "Everything's good. Damn skippy, everything's five-by-five." he sighed. "Tha's right. Every-thin's cooo-paaaa-setiiiiiic, I'll tell you whaaaat. Hoo boy, coooo-pa-ssss..." Merle was out cold, the water bottle finally sliding over and spilling, soaking his shirt and the couch where he lay.

XXXXX

The Hyundai rolled up and parked, the three weary travelers hobbling out, stretching their legs and looking around at the quiet house before them. Rick and Shane came out first, exchanging glances as T-Dog lifted the hatchback and grinned widely. "We hit the mother-load." he said. He looked at the lack of enthusiasm on Rick's face and turned his head slightly. "Something went down." He said quietly, within earshot of Rick, who was now walking towards the vehicle. "Some shit went down while we were gone, din' it?"

"Yeah. We have a problem." Rick said in a low voice.

Daryl rounded the s.u.v. as Shane stepped up next to Rick. "What's tha' prob'lem?" he said, running his hand over his chin. "Walkers?"

"No." Shane said loudly. "Your God damn druggie br-" Rick cut him off with a raised hand before he could say more.

"I think we should get this stuff unloaded and inside before we get into that." Rick said, frowning at Shane. "This is neither the time nor the place."

"Merle?" Aliya had walked up next to Daryl unnoticed.

"Yes. We can talk about it in a bit." Rick insisted. "Let's get all this unloaded and inventoried and get some hot food into you all. You look like hell."

"Had a lil' run in with some walkers, but we're ok." T-Dog grinned. "I could sure use a hot cup of coffee!"

Daryl and Aliya exchanged worried glances and began helping the other three men unload the back of the Hyundai. When they were through, they remained in the kitchen. Carol walked up to Aliya and gave her an awkward hug. "I'm so glad you're all ok." she sighed. "I was so worried."

"We're fine. It was fairly uneventful. I think we scored pretty well." Aliya said. She looked Carol in the face, but the short-haired woman went out of her way to avoid eye contact. She looked at a dour-faced Andrea, who was now standing in the doorway.

"Do they know?" the blonde said.

"Not yet." Rick said. "Thought I'd let them get in the house and get something to eat and drink before we hit them with it."

"Christ, people! The fuck did Merle do now?" Daryl said, slamming his bottle of beer on the table with a splash.

"Daryl, you have to be cool about this. We can't have you flying off the handle and losing control." Rick warned. "I want everyone to be rational about this."

"Fuck that shit!" Daryl said loudly. "What tha' hell's goin' on?"

Dale folded his hands together on the table and cleared his throat. "Daryl, Aliya, this is very difficult. It seems that...it seems that Merle hurt Bridgette. Badly." Dale said quietly. "Rick and Shane thought it was in everyone's best interest that he leave until we can get things sorted out."

"Where'd ya' leave him ta' die _this _time?" Daryl roared, his eyes flashing a deep blue.

"What do you mean he hurt Bridgette badly?" Aliya said calmly.

"He, well, Aliya, apparently he..."

"No fuckin' way." Daryl hissed again. "No _fuckin' _way he did that." Aliya shot him a look that was a cross between "chill the fuck out" and "I don't believe it either." Daryl looked at her and took a deep breath, his chest heaving dramatically.

"Ok, Bridgette says Merle raped her? Where? When?"

The next couple minutes were spent going over the story as it had been recounted by Bridgette. Daryl became more agitated by the minute, pacing, chewing on the skin of his thumb and fidgeting while Aliyah took in all the details Rick could offer.

"How is she now?" Aliya asked. "Can I talk to her?"

"I think that might be awkward, you know, given your relationship with Daryl and Merle and all." Dale said. Aliya rolled her eyes at him and glanced up at his bucket hat, noticing how warn and frayed it was becoming.

"Dale, I was sharing a room with her long before Daryl. You think I'm gonna be anything _but _sympathetic and understanding?" Daryl shot Aliya a look like she had three heads.

"Aw, what tha' fuck? Why would ya' even talk ta' that lyin' bitch?" Daryl turned his anger towards Aliya now. "Ya' takin' her side in this?" His face was flushed, brow furrowed and deep blue eyes flashing.

"I want to talk to her. See how she's doing. What the hell's wrong with that?" Aliya snapped. "It's called compassion, Dixon. Try to have some."

"Fuck you, not one of you fuckers ever had any for my brother...why tha' fuck should I?" Daryl threw his beer bottle into the sink with a sickening crack of glass shattering as it hit the faucet and ricocheted off the side, shards exploding all over the countertop. "Fuck all of you!" he growled and turned on his heel, slamming the door behind him.


End file.
